Krief: The engineering guru who swapped Ferrari for Renault

It turns retired there’s an 11-week pb connected a half-hour assemblage with Philippe Krief. Surprised? Don’t be. In September past year, the antheral from Marseille became the Renault Group’s caller main exertion officer.

This would beryllium a important nonrecreational endeavour adjacent if the 60-year-old hadn’t, lone the summertime before, besides left Ferrari and taken connected the relation of Alpine CEO.

Somehow helium does the 2 jobs broadside by side, each time scoped to the minute. It’s hardcore.

Mr R&D for immense Dacia, adjacent much immense Renault and ‘vehicle arsenic a service’ supplier Mobilize is besides connected the hook for the resurgence of a marque immoderate judge can, successful the EV era, wield a grade of clout akin to that which Porsche amassed successful the petrol age. So Krief is engaged – but if you negociate to pin him down, helium makes for fascinating, steely company.

It was evident from the tense vigor of the comms staffers, with whom we were awaiting their CTO’s accomplishment successful a expansive accumulation abstraction (replete with elephantine turntables) successful the bowels of Renault’s Technocentre, that helium comes with an aura. Not the afloat Tobias Moers – radical weren’t profoundly intimidated, arsenic was often the lawsuit erstwhile the ex-Aston Martin CEO was inbound – but a heavy seriousness.

Brows were furrowed, chatter was clipped, chairs were arranged and rearranged. Then helium was among us, successful a achromatic turtleneck much car decorator than camber-geometry tragic, 5 minutes early.

So who is Philippe Krief, victor of this year’s Mundy Award for Engineering? A calved engineer, for 1 thing. With high-flying execs the car bug is truthful often inherited, but neither of his folks worked successful the industry, alternatively moving a removals business.

A palmy one, admittedly – young Krief was rolling astir successful the backmost of DS Citroëns and had a brushed spot for his father’s Peugeot 504 coupé (the Pininfarina one, helium reminds me), truthful delectable metallic was connected the scene. But it wasn’t the impetus. 

Engineering was the occupation helium ever wanted to do, “so I combined cars with my passion”, helium says. Engineering was the desire, cars the vessel. The equilibrium has since shifted, and Krief contiguous can’t ideate engineering thing else.

He says: “The happening I learned, and that I present cognize would beryllium hard not to have, is the psyche you springiness to a car,” helium says. “You tin consciousness it erstwhile you trial thrust it.” I conjecture you can’t get rather the aforesaid footwear from designing an MRI machine, oregon adjacent an unmanned rocket.

That soundbite is emblematic Krief talk. He speaks softly, authoritatively, successful accented English, enunciating precisely arsenic helium describes engineering concepts and absorption structures, but past often expressing a sentiment that would dependable twee coming from anyone else.

It helps that ‘soul’ is precise overmuch his oeuvre, arsenic anyone who has tried his backmost catalogue knows. You get the consciousness Krief is simply a unsocial proposition.

On 1 manus the antheral is obsessed with quantitative approaches – “at the extremity of the day, what makes the car consciousness [special], adjacent if it looks subjective, tin beryllium measured” – and helium champions simulators, with their imaginable to bash each the dogsbody bits of chassis development, driving down costs and freeing up talent.

But helium besides firmly believes the quality interaction is non-negotiable if you’re going to make a sports car that is “completely harmonious successful everything”. 

In galore ways helium is perfectly suited to taking a romanticist marque similar Alpine guardant into what is, technologically, inactive alternatively an chartless space. The grade of Krief’s uniqueness arsenic a world-class chassis developer surely stems from his geographically varied and demanding vocation path.

Part of the last twelvemonth of an engineering grade was spent astatine Renault, processing aboriginal suspension simulation models. It was pioneering worldly successful the ’80s – and possibly utile mentation for today’s uncertain world. Next was Michelin, erstwhile tyre improvement was inactive a “trial and mistake process”.

He talks fondly of his then-boss, who inspired him by “pushing immoderate concepts that, successful the company, helium unsocial believed in”, but helium had the information and the volition to beryllium it to the doubters further up the firm nutrient chain. Then came a determination to Japan, to assistance the French tyre shaper triumph lucrative OEM contracts.

There, Krief’s ain delight successful item and information was “enhanced by a origin of 1000” by the Japanese engineers. “They were truthful precise,” helium says, “so consenting to understand, truthful heavy successful the analysis.”

One imagines the consequent determination to Italy, to caput up chassis improvement for transverse Fiat platforms – everything from 147 GTA to Ducato – was thing of a civilization shock, though it undeniably gave Krief immense engineering breadth.

Then Maranello. The low-speed back-axle jounce absorption of Fiat Doblos was swapped for the limit-handling characteristics of mid-engined supercars. Even today, Krief is champion known for stitching unneurotic the dynamic canvas on which the 458 Speciale – 1 of the all-time great, exploitable supercars – imparts full joyousness connected the driver.

And yet possibly his existent magnum opus was what came next: Alfa Romeo’s Giorgio level was a storied task completed mostly successful secret, and the resulting Giulia was an anti-BMW 3 Series, arsenic the Alpine A110 is an anti-Porsche Cayman. Same mechanical little but with a wonderfully fresh, lively approach.

“We were asked to bash the level and archetypal car successful little than 3 years,” says Krief, “without immoderate components from the Fiat world, and without immoderate engineering [input] coming from Fiat, truthful we had to make a tiny team.”

The quality of the tiny team, arsenic Krief puts it, is that nary azygous idiosyncratic designs conscionable the suspension bushes oregon the driblet links and truthful on. “There are guys who deliberation astir the [entire] system,” helium says.

It’s an important mode of moving for Krief; it’s rather akin to the British school, and it’s thing helium not lone sees and encourages successful Alpine but which helium is present inculcating connected a deeper level crossed the full Renault Group portfolio.

“I needed to beryllium definite that I agreed with the philosophy,” helium says of his past imaginable power from Ferrari to Alpine successful 2023, aft 25 years moving successful Italy that culminated successful signing disconnected on the plug-in hybrid Ferrari 296 GTB.

“Now I’m excessively aged to change, truthful erstwhile I was archetypal contacted by Alpine, I thought astir the challenge: to commencement from scratch, to make a merchandise successful the electrical [sphere] that volition person the aforesaid attributes arsenic the cars I person ever developed and loved.”

It was a compelling offer, and it drew the Frenchman location for, possibly, the past large job. Now the imaginativeness is coalescing. The A390 is present with its dual-motor rear axle and clever chassis electronics; prototypes consciousness promising. Next year, the existing A110 (not a Krief product, though it feels spookily similar one) volition retire.

Its loss-leading replacement is owed successful 2027 and volition present the Alpine Performance Platform, which volition besides underpin a roadster and a revived A310 2+2. A V6-engined supercar is besides incoming.

The extremity successful each cases volition beryllium to quantify attributes that made the cars connected Krief’s CV truthful lovable past replicate them for EVs. A hard job, but not impossible.

He says: “With a antithetic architecture [to the petrol cars], with antithetic value and inertia, with higher-density motors, shorter effect time, the [engineering method] volition beryllium antithetic but the effect volition beryllium the same: pleasure.”