The road to today's glitzy Monaco relaunch of the Alpine brand has taken some
twists and turns
since first announced in 2012. But the Vision concept you see here officially previews a "forthcoming road-going sports car, 80 per cent of which will reflect the concept's cues" according to the pre-event press release.
Yup, it's really happening and with the full weight of Groupe Renault behind it, a dedicated management team to run it and a modernised and dedicated production line in Alpine's spiritual home of Dieppe to build it. With Renault's return to F1 as a manufacturer team, LMP2 participation at Le Mans and beyond and group head Carlos Ghosn's stated aim to reflect this with an emboldened product line-up of Renaultsport and now Alpine road cars, we're entering exciting times.
We'll no doubt be getting the full corporate broadside at the formal unveiling so let's concentrate on the car for now. Those with recent memories of the aborted Alpine-Caterham collaboration will ponder how much of that survives into the vehicle that will go on sale next year. By the looks of it not a lot, Renault taking the opportunity of going it alone to make the Alpine very much a modern-day expression of the brand's heritage.
At this stage Renault isn't saying much about the car's specification, beyond confirming it'll hit 0-62mph in less than 4.5 seconds and that its four-cylinder engine "delivers its power with an inviting purr". You'll be reassured to know "this pleasure and performance are backed up by powerful brakes" too. From the earliest days of the Caterham partnership, the brand's heritage of building lightweight, minimalist cars and previous sightings of Elise-based engineering mules we'll take a punt on the Alpine going after Lotus and Alfa Romeo 4C style lightweight thrills rather than big power and supercar chasing performance. With Porsche now going four-cylinder turbo for its Boxster and Cayman ranges these too will no doubt be in the Alpine's crosshairs.
Paddles behind the wheel and a centre console design that would seem incompatible with a stickshift would appear to rule out a manual transmission, which will be a shame for those wanting a purist sports car but in keeping with the prevailing winds of the industry. With both the Elise and 4C using adapted and mid-mounted transverse front-wheel drive powertrains don't be surprised to see the production car using a similarly configured version of the Clio Renaultsport's 1.6-litre turbo motor and dual-clutch EDC gearbox. If the kerbweight can be kept down to a tonne or so 250hp should be sufficient to hit that acceleration figure and deliver the kind of "precision, agility and playful personality" promised.
The looks clearly tie the car to Alpine's past glories, not least the iconic A110 Berlinette series many picture when the brand is mentioned. These tiny, fibreglass-bodied cars give Alpine the perfect blueprint to build a modern-day lightweight coupe, the proportions and styling references to the A110 carried off with some style. That these too used adapted powertrains from regular Renault products gives a sense of continuity if the new car does indeed use Clio-donated engines and transmissions.
We'll have to see how much of the stylish minimalism of the show car's interior makes it into production but it looks good and combines the expected aluminium, carbon and leather with microfibre trim for seats and doors. There's the inevitable Sport button on the thick-rimmed wheel and playful touches like an analogue stopwatch beside the central TFT screen and a start button accessible by pulling a pin "holding the promise of an imminent sensory explosion", or so it says here.
Exciting times then, especially if, as Renault believes, there is growing demand for a new generation of sports cars combining low weight, realistic performance and relatively affordable starting pricetags. Underpinned by heritage like Alpine's and you have a strong package we can only hope delivers the goods.