GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Alpine no-show
Renault's latest Alpine concept a surprise omission at Swiss showWhen Renault announced its plan for a born-again Alpine coupe and unveiled its latest Alpine concept car in Monte Carlo on February 19, it was widely expected the new Alpine Vision show car would also appear at this week's Geneva motor show.
That wasn't the case, however, with a Renault executive telling motoring.com.au the French car-maker never planned to show the latest in a series of Alpine concept cars at the Swiss automotive fair.
Despite the surprise no-show of the Alpine Vision in Switzerland – or any presence for the historic French sports car brand in Geneva – Renault says it remains on target to show the final production version of the long-awaited compact coupe by the end of this year.
That makes October's Paris show – Renault's home motor show – the most likely venue for the production Alpine's world debut, before production commences in Dieppe in northern France and the global launch rollout commences in the second quarter of 2017, initially in Europe.
That's later than expected because Renault’s new Alpine sports car was originally to have been co-developed with British sports car-maker Caterham and released this year, but ties were severed two years into the technical partnership in 2014.
Already confirmed for Australian release, the A120 coupe (as it's expected to be known) could lead to an eventual three-model Alpine family including an SUV.
For now, the first Alpine in decades will be a lightweight, two-seat compact coupe to rival $70,000-plus sports cars like the Alfa 4C, Audi TT, BMW Z4, Jaguar F-TYPE, Mercedes-Benz SLK and Porsche Cayman.
As we've reported, Renault said last month's Alpine Vision concept was an 80 per cent accurate indication of the showroom model, which will be inspired by the original Alpine A110 Berlinette of the 1960s and designed by Antony Villain.
It will be powered by a new mid-mounted 1.8-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine developed by Renault Sport, generating up to 225kW and most likely matched only to a dual-clutch automatic transmission.
Combined with a kerb weight of less than 1100kg, Renault promised the rear-drive coupe will hit 100km.h in less than 4.5sec.
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