Yahoo Autos Alpine talking to AutoNation U.S. dealerships for sales and service
In January, Renault CEO Luca de Meo opened up about plans for global expansion, with sub-brand Alpine given the role of planting flags in North America and China. As startup brands are finding of late, not only is making cars difficult, servicing them without an easily accessible network is a costly pain. Tesla's been at it for a decade and Tesla owners still face a particular set of challenges. With de Meo looking for the best way into the U.S. market, AutoNation might have opened the front gate. Automotive News reports that the Renault chief has been in talks with AutoNation CEO Mike Manley — formerly top dog at Fiat Chrysler — about getting Alpines into showrooms.
This is all preliminary, mind. Renault's working several angles, AutoNation but one of them. A few of the draws for going with the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida-based dealer group are that it's well established, being 27 years old, having more than 300 outlets nationwide, and being the number-one-selling dealer group in the U.S. since 1997, a year after it was founded. In 2022, AutoNation sold 229,971 new cars, down from 262,403 new vehicles in 2021 and giving up the company's longtime lead spot to the Lithia Motors dealer group.
