There was a time when France had a sports car brand that they were extremely proud of. After two decades of laying dormant, the Alpine brand was resurrected, and they’re coming back with a bang. The halo car will be a new mid-engine coupe that will take on Lotus and Porsche. Enter the Alpine A110.
This French coupe pays homage to the original A110 Berlinette from the 1960s. If you think the face looks odd, that’s because it’s a nod to the original A110. The rear end gets a pair of “X” shaped LED lamps with dynamic signal indicators! Tipping the scales at just 1,080 kg, the A110 is super lightweight and takes pride with having a drag coefficient of 0.32, among the lowest in this segment.
Behind the seats rests a 1.8-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine sourced from Renault. With the help of Renault Sport, the engine is massaged to develop 252 hp and 320 Nm of torque. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a Getrag seven-speed wet clutch DCT. It gets double wishbone suspension for both axles and boasts a 44:56 weight distribution, which already sounds like a whole lot of fun. It sprints from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.5 seconds, while top speed is electronically limited to 250 km/h.
To kickstart Alpine’s revival, a limited series of A110 cars, called the Première Edition, have been introduced. At 58,500 euros (approximately RM278,450) per pop, deliveries to left-hand drive nations will commence in late 2017, while right-hand drive variants will arrive in the UK and Japan by 2018. Additional variants of the A110 will be offered across the globe once the Première Editions are sold out. Let us all pray hard for the brand to come to Malaysia!
IMAGE GALLERY
