Alpine A110 here in October

Renault’s hotly anticipated Alpine A110 coupe will arrive in Australia in the fourth quarter of this year in more limited numbers than expected.

When we drove the born-again mid-engined coupe in France last December, Renault said first Australian deliveries would take place in the second half of 2018.

Now it says the two-seat A110 won’t be launched here until the fourth quarter of this year – so October at the earliest – and that Australia’s 2018 allocation will be limited to about just 50 vehicles, about 30 of which are already spoken for.

“There is limited production for this vehicle globally as it is produced in one small factory in France,” Renault Australia managing director Andrew Moore told motoring.com.au.

“We believe that the right strategy for Alpine in Australia is to keep this an exclusive car and not flood the market with too many vehicles.”

When it arrives, the A110 will be available via just one stand-alone Alpine retail outlet in Melbourne, with a Sydney dealer to follow.

“Alpine will be sold in Australia through an exclusive network of dedicated Alpine dealerships,” said Moore.

“We will be announcing our first dealership in Melbourne soon and then the proposal is to expand to have a Sydney dealership.”

Alpine revealed two new limited-edition versions of the compact French two-door at the Geneva motor show in March, but Australia's A110 is likely to be based on Europe’s Premiere Edition and priced at around $100,000.

The A110 Premiere Edition comes with 18-inch Otto Fuchs forged aluminium wheels, Sabelt monocoque sport seats, Brembo brakes, an active lightweight sports exhaust, Alpine-tuned Focal audio system, matte carbon-fibre interior accents and brushed aluminium pedals.

“Our intention is to launch with a special-edition vehicle like they did in Europe with the Premiere Edition,” said Moore.

“This was highly successful and sold out in just five days – it was originally estimated this would take three months. The vehicle will be priced with an RRP of around $100,000.”

That will make the rear-drive A110 pricier than many pundits originally expected and more expensive than rivals like the Alfa Romeo 4C and Audi TT, but cheaper than the Jaguar F-TYPE and Porsche Cayman.

While a lighter and perhaps more powerful Alpine coupe has been tipped — as part of a family of all-new Alpine models including a roadster and even an SUV, a host of special-edition A110 coupes should follow Australia’s launch edition.

All will be powered by the same mid-mounted 185kW/320Nm 1.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine and seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, based around a compact aluminium structure.

As seen at Geneva, the top-shelf A110 Légende Edition flagship will bring niceties like six-way adjustable lightweight Sabelt seats, full leather upholstery and gloss-finish carbon-fibre interior trim.

Meantime, the more minimalist “driver focussed” Pure Edition will be lighter and less generously equipped, but shouldn’t be confused with the as-yet-unconfirmed ‘A110S’ or ‘A110 Sport’, which could bring carbon-fibre body and a full titanium exhaust.

The latter should weigh even less than the standard car’s paltry 1080kg specific, feature revised four-wheel double-wishbone suspension tune and beat the standard A110’s 0-100km/h acceleration time of 4.5 seconds.

The only blight on the A110’s spec sheet is the lack of side airbags, which will likely prevent it receiving five-star ANCAP safety rating.

Developed by Renaultsport and built in Dieppe, France -- the historical home of Alpine -- the new A110 draws its styling inspiration from the A110 Berlinette first launched in 1961.

Alpine vehicles have never been officially sold in Australia, but were manufactured from 1955 for both road and track (Alpine won both the Monte Carlo rally and the Le Mans 24-hour in the 1970s), before Renault purchased the company in 1973 and ceased production in 1995.