Renault to reveal reborn Alpine sportster next month
Born-again French sports car gears up for new power play on February 16Fans of lightweight, dextrous European sports cars will have much to consider over the coming years with the first new Alpine coupe in decades to be officially unveiled on February 16.
That's the date – two weeks before the Geneva motor show -- the historic French performance car brand mentioned in a cryptic Twitter post on New Year's Eve.
“We wanted to announce our come back but some would say we never left,” tweeted Alpine.
Although the car itself is unlikely to be on sale until 2017 after, the company is nevertheless keen to build hype around its new flagship sports car – hence the early unveiling.
Expected to attract lots of attention when it makes its auto show debut at the 2016 Geneva motor show on March 1, the new Alpine model could bear the name A120 and is said to rival vehicles such as the Porsche Cayman and Alfa Romeo 4C.
Power will come from a small mid-mounted four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine that could belt out up to 200kW, which should give the circa-1100kg rear-drive sports car enough poke to make it satisfying on road and track.
Acceleration should be fairly rapid in the new 'Berlinette' (read: two-door coupe) but ever since Renault confirmed Alpine's return in early 2013 the company has insisted it won't be a Lamborghini-slaying power monger.
In other words, it will be a 'purist' vehicle, expected to be similar in shape and proportion to the Alpine Celebration concept car and using low weight not high horsepower to reach performance benchmarks.
Despite its small size, however, it won’t be a rival for the likes of the Mazda MX-5 or Toyota 86. Pricing for the car in Australia could to start as high as $75,000.
The original plan to develop the Alpine sports car brand — which will comprise more models possibly including an SUV — involved Caterham, but the British-French collaboration ended in mid-2014.
Owned by French car-maker Renault, which recently confirmed its return as a team to Formula 1, the Alpine name has strong motorsport ties and enjoyed great success from competition in races such as the Mille Miglia, Coupe des Alpes and Le Mans.
Alpine CEO Bernard Ollivier has said "we will only have one shot" to relaunch the historic performance car brand successfully.
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