Back in 2012, Renault and Caterham made an agreement to co-develop and build new lightweight two-seat sports cars. Renault would sell its car under the Alpine brand, thus reviving an iconic name from its past. Caterham would have the opportunity to expand its lineup and even find new markets. The cars would share the basic underpinnings and engineering aspects, but would differentiate in other ways to make them unique to each brand.

Development has been ongoing with a targeted 2016 launch, but now it appears the 50:50 joint venture partnership is over. Autocar is reporting that the partnership, called Societe des Automobiles Alpine Caterham (SAAC) has been called off. No exact reason has been given, but there have been previous reports of ongoing tensions that failed to be resolved. Neither company is commenting right now, but we expect the cars to launch in late 2016 as scheduled. We just don't know how much they'll have in common anymore in terms of engines and other mechanics.