Enthusiasts have long dreamed of the day when the Alpine sports car brand is revived, and that dream is now becoming a reality. Alpine's parent company, Renault, has spent 36 million euros ($42 million) upgrading its production facility in Dieppe in northern France to produce new models under the Alpine banner. And at the formal opening of the new production line, the company announced the new facility will be capable of producing up to 6,000 of the sports cars per year.
The first model produced under the revived brand will be the A110, which was first shown to the world at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year. The standard version will be priced at 58,000 euros ($68,000), while a race-ready A110 Cup model will cost considerably more at 100,000 euros.
Nice touches include the limited production run of the new A110 being set at just 1,995 units as a tribute to the brand's history of being originally founded in 1955, while the name and the styling of the car are taken from the brand's best-known model, which was last on sale between 1961 and 1977.
This new A110 has an aluminum platform and body that are bonded, riveted and welded to provide a lightweight structure that's also exceptionally rigid. Without any additional options, the A110 really is ultra-light with a curb weight of just 1,080 kg, an optimal weight distribution of 44 percent at the front and 56 percent at the rear and a low center of gravity that's designed to deliver outstanding agility.
Powering the A100 is a turbocharged 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine, which has a maximum power output of 249 horsepower and a maximum torque rating of 320 Nm, and can propel the Alpine from 0 to 10 km/h in as little as 4.5 seconds. The engine comes mated to a Getrag seven-speed wet-clutch DCT gearbox, which has gear ratios that have been specifically developed for Alpine to deliver optimal performance at all times.
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