The current Alpine A110’s days are numbered. Although the Renault-owned brand will make the car until 2026 via a low-volume exemption from the EU’s GSR2 regulations (the same ones that killed off the Toyota GR86), demand is extremely high, with the next six months of production sold out. You could wait beyond that and get its replacement, but it’ll be electric.
Worried that means it’ll be a bit, heavy lump of a thing that urinates all over the ethos of the lightweight current version? You needn’t. Speaking to Autocar, Renault Group boss Luca de Meo is promising that it’ll be “lighter than a comparable car with a combustion engine but with no compromise in performance.”
That’ll be quite a feat, given that the Porsche 718 Cayman weighs around 1,400kg. It’ll be possible by lobbing a lot of cash at the project. De Meo said Renault intends to “invest a lot of money” in an all-new platform, which it’ll get a good return on by using it for other EVs, possibly a 2+2 ‘A310’.
That said, De Meo admitted in some ways that making this bespoke, Alpine-only architecture is “a completely stupid decision”. So why do it? It’s all about making sure that Alpine can remain true to its sports car roots while making more profitable cars like A390 Beta coupe/SUV thing and the Renault 5-based Alpine A290 (above).
De Meo told Autocar that he’s looking to Porsche for inspiration in building a sports car brand and that the range will eventually include six models. At the top of the tree will be a supercar.
As for the new A110, it’ll still look very much like the outgoing model and therefore the OG A110 of the 1960s and 70s. Again, there’s some Porsche influence here. “Porsche doesn’t make a square 911,” he said.
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