Alpine A110

Lore & Background

Alpine was founded by Jean Rédélé, a Frenchman based in Dieppe who modified Renault 4CVs for rallying, replacing the three-speed gearbox with a five-speed manual and constructing lighter bodies. His success led to factory support from Renault, and he formally established the Societe Anonyme des Automobiles Alpine, naming the company after his rallying successes in the Alps. The A110, launched in 1963, used many Renault parts, including engines, and featured a steel backbone chassis and fiberglass body—a pioneer use of glass-fibre construction valued for its lightweight properties.

The A110 was originally offered with 1.1 L R8 Major or R8 Gordini engines, the Gordini producing 95 PS at 6,500 rpm. It achieved fame in the early 1970s in the International Championship for Manufacturers, winning events across Europe. Notable performances included a victory in the 1971 Monte Carlo Rally with Swedish driver Ove Andersson. After Alpine's acquisition by Renault in 1971, the World Rally Championship began in 1973, and the A110, with drivers Bernard Darniche, Jean-Pierre Nicolas, Jean-Luc Thérier, and Jean-Claude Andruet, won most entered races, making Alpine the first World Rally Champion. Later competition-spec A110s received engines of up to 1.8 litres.

By 1974, the mid-engine Lancia Stratos, the first car designed specifically for rally racing, made the rear-engine A110 obsolete. Adoption of fuel injection brought no performance increase, and a DOHC 16-valve head proved unreliable. Chassis modifications, including the A310's double wishbone rear suspension, failed to increase performance. Sales declined, prompting Renault to purchase the company outright.

Reader's Guide

The Alpine A110's significance lies in its role as the first manufacturer to win the World Rally Championship, in 1973, defeating Lancia, Porsche, and Ford. Its crowning achievements included 1-2-3 finishes at both the 1971 and 1973 Monte Carlo rallies, using Renault 16 engines. The car's lightweight fiberglass body and steel backbone chassis, combined with increasing power outputs from 51 to 180 horsepower, made it a dominant force in European rallying during the early 1970s. However, by 1974, advances in rally competition, particularly the purpose-built Lancia Stratos, rendered the A110 outdated, and it struggled to keep up. Despite being surpassed, the A110's legacy as a successful and iconic rally car remains, and its victories in the early 1970s solidified its place in motorsport history. The car also played a key role in Renault's entry into Formula One, as Alpine built a Formula One testing mule by 1976, leading to Renault's full-scale entry. The Dieppe factory that served as Alpine's base continues to operate, producing performance cars like the Renault 5 Turbo and later becoming the headquarters of Renault Sport.

Did You Know?

• The Alpine A110 weighed only 620 kilograms at launch.
• Alpine was a pioneer in the use of glass-fibre body panel construction.
• The A110 used Renault 16 engines during its 1971 and 1973 Monte Carlo rally victories.
• Versions of the A110 were built under license in Mexico as the Dinalpin and in Bulgaria as the Bulgaralpine.

Revival & Heritage

The Alpine A110 made its modern return at the 87th Geneva Motor Show in March 2017, a name and design language deliberately echoing the original model that rolled off production lines between 1961 and 1977. The revival was not merely a badge resurrection; it carried the weight of a French sports-car identity that had been dormant for decades. Pre-orders for a special Première Edition opened on 7 December 2016 through Alpine's app, limited to exactly 1,955 units across 13 countries—a nod to the brand's founding year. Buyers were asked to place a 2,000-euro deposit, select their body number and colour, and Alpine reported that every single unit was reserved within a single weekend, with the full run pre-booked in just three days. The recommended retail price, revealed at the Geneva unveiling, settled at 58,500 euros. Deliveries to Continental Europe began in late 2017, while the UK, Japan, and Australia followed in 2018, marking the first time in over forty years that an A110 reached customers under the Alpine name.

Engineering & Powertrain

Under the skin, the A110 is built around an all-aluminium chassis that keeps the car light while providing the rigidity a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout demands. The heart of the car is a 1.8-litre turbocharged, gasoline direct-injection inline-four with four valves per cylinder, originally developed by the Renault–Nissan alliance and then reworked by Alpine's own engineers. In standard form it delivers 252 PS at 6,000 rpm and a broad 320 N⋅m of torque available from 2,000 to 5,000 rpm, routed through a Getrag-built 7-speed dual-clutch transmission. That combination propels the car from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.5 seconds and to an electronically capped 250 km/h. The powertrain remained identical across all three launch trims—Pure, Première, and Légende—meaning differentiation was in fitment and finish rather than mechanical output. For the 2020 model year the naming was simplified: the base Pure became simply the Alpine A110, while the Légende evolved into the A110 GT, which adopted the A110 S engine.

Performance Evolution

The A110 S, introduced in June 2019, represented Alpine's first serious step toward track performance. The same 1.8-litre four gained a larger turbocharger and a retune that lifted output to 300 PS, with peak power arriving 1,400 rpm higher than the standard unit. Suspension was overhauled with springs 50 percent stiffer and anti-roll bars 100 percent stiffer, the ride height dropped by 4 mm, and the ESC system was recalibrated with a full-defeat mode. Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres in a stickier compound added grip, while an optional carbon-fibre roof shaved 1.9 kg from the 1,114 kg total. The 0-to-100 km/h time improved to 4.4 seconds. The A110 R, unveiled in October 2022, pushed further: 34 kg of carbon fibre across the hood, 18-inch wheels, engine cover, and Sabelt Track monocoque seats brought the weight to 1,082 kg. Adjustable dampers, 10 mm of extra lowering, Brembo brakes with improved cooling, and a 3D-printed double-wall dual exhaust followed. The sprint to 100 km/h dropped to 3.9 seconds and the top speed rose to 285 km/h.

Legacy & End of an Era

In 2024 Alpine revealed the A110R Ultime, explicitly announced as the final petrol-powered Alpine ever to leave the factory. Power was raised to 345 bhp, the 0-to-100 km/h sprint tightened to 3.8 seconds, and the top speed held at 285 km/h. The car featured even more extensive carbon-fibre components than the standard A110 R, and only 110 units were built, of which 15 were the bespoke LeBleu Editions. This limited run marked the closing chapter of a model that had been in production since late 2017. Alpine confirmed that production of the A110 would end in June 2026, as the factory was being retooled to produce the A110's all-electric successor. The journey from the 1,955-unit Première Edition in 2017 through the S, R, and Ultime variants encapsulates a decade of French sports-car engineering that now transitions into an electric future, leaving the A110 as the last internal-combustion Alpine and a definitive bookend to a brand heritage stretching back to 1955.