Most of all it is not another SUV with a pot of glitter sprinkled on it.
Which apparently is what Lotus are now condemned to have to make under Geely.
Beside Mazda, no real world manufacturer offers a (new) NA engine (which is a pitty). So they have to take at Alpine what the factory can offer and what is payable.
I dont think the issue is NA or not but turbo or not. There is no throttle lag on a supercharged engine but lag is inevitable on a turbo one as the turbo has to spool up. Even electric turbos which some cars have as an attempt to get the lag to a minimum, dont spool instantly
I can't find any reference to it but I am almost sure that I read somewhere that Lotus and Renault were working together on an aluminium tub platform design. Anyone else recall that?
I dont know whether it was formal co-operation or simply copying but its well established that the testing of parts of the Alpine round the ring were done with a modified lotus exige including suspension testing. Like the 4C, the Alpine is modelled on Chapmans "add lightness" philosophy even if it isnt that light at 1100 kg empty
