Alpine badge on a Clio

[Derek182]

I saw this today on the front wing of a nearly new Clio

My French is non-existent but I assume "Esprit Alpine" means "Spirit of Alpine" or similar?
It just seemed strange, having gone to the trouble of promoting Alpine as a separate brand are Renault now using Alpine as a trim level on Clios?
Reminiscent of sticking an MG badge on the front of a Metro and saying it's a hot hatch!
A few years ago a Renaultsport badge on a Clio or Megane usually meant it was a thoroughly re-engineered hot hatch but I don't think any current Clios are in the least bit sporting.

[Mr. Jimmy]

The MG Metro turbo, one of which I owned and shamefully wrote off, was a genuine hot hatch.

[Jimjimhim]

Maybe it has an upgraded stereo

[RS_MAN_CHILD]

Renaultsport got cancelled so Alpine could be positioned as the new sporting brand of Renault .....those Alpine Clio Esprit have a massive 143bhp,weight a lot as hybrid battery pack & are restricted to 112mph! its not working out too well except they look nice & do 0-60 in about 9 seconds.

[biggles330d]

A real shame, i fear the slippery slope. Even more reason to hang on to mine as an original undiluted proper Alpine!

[RikkertBiemans]

Alpine will be to Renault what AMG is to Mercedes. You can also get AMG line for a C180 base model. And AMG also only has one real car of their own (AMG GT), all other cars are just based on regular Mercedes models.

[HTP99]

RikkertBiemans said:

Alpine will be to Renault what AMG is to Mercedes. You can also get AMG line for a C180 base model. And AMG also only has one real car of their own (AMG GT), all other cars are just based on regular Mercedes models.

Yep they all do it: RS Line (Audi), M Sport (BMW), N Line (Hyundai).

[Portti]

As far as I understand the "Espirit Alpine" is basically a trim level which is now available on several Renault models. At least that is the case here in Finland and I believe in continental Europe also.

Looking at the local Renault website, it seems like you can have "Espirit Alpine" version on the following:

- Clio
- Captur
- Symbioz
- Scenic
- Austral
- Espace

Which is all the Renault passenger cars except for some reason Megane.

[HTP99]

Portti said:

As far as I understand the "Espirit Alpine" is basically a trim level which is now available on several Renault models. At least that is the case here in Finland and I believe in continental Europe also.

Looking at the local Renault website, it seems like you can have "Espirit Alpine" version on the following:

- Clio
- Captur
- Symbioz
- Scenic
- Austral
- Espace

Which is all the Renault passenger cars except for some reason Megane.

Same here in the UK (apart from Espace as we don't get Espace here) and Megane is excluded here too, I should imagine it is to do with the interior trim, probably a cost element to take into consideration in updating the interior trim on Megane to something more Esprit Alpine like, Megane is also the oldest car (in the UK anyway) in the range when you take into account facelifts, there is likely something already in the pipeline for it in the future.

We get Rafale here too, this has an Esprit Alpine spec/trim.

Edited by HTP99 on Tuesday 1st October 12:36

[RizzoTheRat]

There's even an Esprit Alpine version of the Duster, which seems really strange put it across all the sub brands.

[Scrump]

Derek182 said:

Reminiscent of sticking an MG badge on the front of a Metro and saying it's a hot hatch!

[jont-]

I had a 430d with more '///M' badges sprinkled around it than my older E39 M5

Unfortunately marketing ruins everything.

[HTP99]

RizzoTheRat said:

There's even an Esprit Alpine version of the Duster, which seems really strange put it across all the sub brands.

Really, where?

[RizzoTheRat]

Hmmm, maybe not actually. Looks like I've been conned by a magazine's imagining of what it might look like rather than a real car. Although they market them as Renault in South Africa so it may still be a possibility