The Alpine Cars Thread

[FiestaST]

Q&A: ALPINE’S BOSS ON F1, LOTUS, AND ELECTRIC SUVS…

TG grilles Laurent Rossi to find out how Alpine’s going to kick on from the great (but niche) A110

Q&A: Alpine’s boss on F1, Lotus, and electric SUVs…

www.topgear.com

 

[FiestaST]

Alpine A4810 by IED Concept

Twenty-eight Masters students studying Transportation Design at the IED presented their own take on the concept of sportiness with the 'A4810 Project by IED': a hydrogen-powered, two-seater supercar based on a brief from the Alpine design team.

The A4810 is a car that embraces next-generation technologies while also championing the traditional characteristics of the Alpine brand that was founded in 1955. A model that is not only technological advanced but also environmentally friendly, the A4810 provides a glimpse into the future supercars.

The student-led project is an ideal way for Alpine to broaden its horizons to new generations of designers and drivers, and raise awaremeness of the innovative project presented by talented students.

https://www.netcarshow.com/alpine/2022-a4810_by_ied_concept/

 

[FiestaST]

Alpine A4810 concept is a hydrogen hypercar for 2035

Outlandish student-designed concept imagines a future flagship for Alpine's sports car line-up

The stunning new Alpine A4810 concept is an intriguing vision of the zero-emission sports cars the French brand could be building in 2035.

Described as a 'super-berlinette', the concept is the work of transportation design students at the Turin-based Istituto Europeo di Design, who were briefed in autumn 2021 by Alpine to create a concept that at once "embraces the latest-generation technologies" while nodding to the brand's trademark characteristics. IED students have previously created concepts in partnership with Suzuki, Hyundai and Pininfarina.

Beyond its outlandish, future-looking design, the A4810 is notable for its adoption of a hydrogen-fuelled drivetrain - a first for the Renault-owned performance brand. Its creators have not said whether this takes the form of a conventional fuel cell electric set-up or a hydrogen-combustion system, but a pair of what appear to be chunky exhaust outlets seem to suggest the latter.

Alpine A4810 concept is a hydrogen hypercar for 2035 | Autocar

Outlandish student-designed concept imagines a future flagship for Alpine's sports car line-up

www.autocar.co.uk

 

[FiestaST]

Joe Achilles review of the 2022 Alpine A110

 

[FiestaST]

Alpine A110 review

WHAT'S THE VERDICT?

“Still great to drive, but the Lotus Emira will provide hugely stiff competition”

The Alpine A110 does things differently. Whether that makes it better or worse than a Porsche Cayman depends on your priorities and perspective. But fundamentally it’s a terrific car, a genuine exponent of light weight that makes you question the claims of almost every firm that says they build light cars. Even Lotus.

It tackles difficult roads with unflappable poise and agility, it’s a non-threatening sports car that proves that you can reverse the trend towards bigger wheels, bigger brakes, more power and more weight and still have something capable and exciting. There’s not much that flows across country with so little effort and so little energy expended. That's why we'd stick with the sub-£50k A110, instead of being tempted by the more powerful £60k A110 S or GT. The standard car is all you need.

Has Alpine changed the car enough in 2022 as the Lotus Emira lands? You could argue very little needed altering, and Alpine doesn't really have the budget to do so. The revised touchscreen phone pairing is very welcome and the simplified range makes more sense, but the Lotus will offer stuff the Alpine never can: a V6, a manual gearbox, cabin space and possibly a soft-top.

That doesn't detract from the A110's charm through: you just need to buy into what this car offers, not what it sacrifices. Want a sports car? This little French hero is one of the very best ever made.

Alpine A110 Review 2023 | Top Gear

A terrific car, a genuine exponent of light weight and something pleasingly different to drive

www.topgear.com

 

[FiestaST]

Full 5/5

Alpine A110 S 2022 UK review

Should I buy one?

The bottom line is entirely positive: the base model retains its purity, the GT is marginally the better-equipped for long-distance travel and the S is the clear choice for those who will sometimes drive on circuits. It’s that simple.

Otherwise, it’s A110 situation normal.

Alpine car reviews | Autocar

All on-sale Alpine cars reviewed by the Autocar road test team, providing the most detailed car reviews in the world since 1895

www.autocar.co.uk

 

[FiestaST]

Opinion: has Alpine done enough to the ‘new’ A110 to battle the Lotus Emira?

Our beloved French sports car has had a refresh, but that new Lotus casts a big shadow...

I drove the ‘new’ Alpine A110 and I absolutely loved it. Course I did. Mechanically, it’s pretty much exactly the same as it was when it won Top Gear’s Performance Car of the Year in 2018, and our overall Car of the Year crown.

It’s still a lightweight tonic. A rolling demonstration of how modern cars can still look pretty. And be well-packaged. Lightweight. And how you can have way more fun with 250bhp than 2,000bhp.

But it’s not actually changed much at all. The headlines are a revised touchscreen with a low-rent Renault skin – and much more useful Apple and Android phone mirroring at last – a slightly garish aero kit (that adds about 150kg of downforce to a car that’s wonderful precisely because it’s light on its feet) and stickier Michelin tyres. Oh, and a fetching shade of orange.

The A110S is now up to 300bhp, as is the poshed-up GT trim level. The standard A110 stays at 248bhp and is none the worse for it. It’s the one I’d have without hesitation. The base price is now, give or take a tank of fuel, £50,000.

And my fear is this fabulous but ultimately very niche sports car (Alpine shifts about 2,100 a year) is about to have what little market share it controls gobbled up by the incoming Lotus Emira. Firstly, because the Lotus is The Shiny New Thing. Just like the Alpine was in 2018.

Opinion: has Alpine done enough to the ‘new’ A110 to battle the Lotus Emira?

Our beloved French sports car has had a refresh, but that new Lotus casts a big shadow...

www.topgear.com

 

[FiestaST]

Auto Social UK review of the 2022 Alpine A110

 

[FiestaST]

Why the new Alpine A110S is the best kept secret of the sports car world - The Late Brake Show

 

[FiestaST]

Alpine has made some special A110 colours for the Miami Grand Prix

Fancy Bleu Azur or Rose Bruyère on your French sports car? Of course you do…

Desperate to place your order for a new Alpine A110? Big fan of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City? Well, you’re in luck. Alpine has commissioned a couple of special art deco A110s to celebrate F1’s first ever Miami GP this weekend, and they are rather lovely indeed.

Alpine says the Bleu Azur and Rose Bruyère colour schemes are ‘inspired by the neon lights of Ocean Drive’ as well as ‘the art deco buildings overlooking Miami, the colourful sunsets and the city's vibrant music scene’. Of course they are.

Both get lovely 18-inch white Serac wheels though, and the colours continue both on the inside and on the A110s patriotic flag motifs. They’re available to order now and deliveries should take place this summer, apparently.

Alpine has made some special A110 colours for the Miami Grand Prix

Fancy Bleu Azur or Rose Bruyère on your French sports car? Of course you do…

www.topgear.com

 

[FiestaST]

The 296bhp Alpine A110 GT J Rédélé is a new limited edition

Alpine doffs its cap to its founder with a delightful new trim for its lightweight sports car

To mark the 100th anniversary of Alpine founder Jean Rédélé’s birth, the carmaker has released this latest special edition into the wild. It is called, unsurprisingly, the Alpine A110 GT J. Rédélé.

Taking the mid-range A110 ‘GT’ as its base – 1.8-litre four-pot turbo, 296bhp, 0-62mph in 4.4secs – it gets a ‘Montebello Grey’ paintjob said to be one that Rédélé was particularly fond of. A high-gloss black roof sits atop the car, while 18in ‘Grand Prix’ alloys and silver calipers feature.

There’s black leather and grey stitching inside, said to “emphasise the synergy between the Montebello Grey paint scheme and the dark styling elements”.

The 296bhp Alpine A110 GT J Rédélé is a new limited edition

Alpine doffs its cap to its founder with a delightful new trim for its lightweight sports car

www.topgear.com

 

[FiestaST]

Lotus Emira vs Porsche 718 Cayman GTS vs Alpine A110S | Which would you buy? - CAR Magazine (UK)

 

[FiestaST]

New Alpine A110 EV will be halo car for expanded line-up

Sports car will go electric for next generation, which is tipped to be released in 2026

The next-generation Alpine A110 will continue to play a crucial role in the French performance brand’s lineup, with the French car maker readying an electric variant.

The fan-favourite two-seat coupé – which received a minor update earlier this year – will make the switch to an electric powertrain for its third generation, lining it up as a rival to similarly conceived sports cars from Lotus, Porsche and Toyota.

By the time the new A110 arrives, most likely in 2026, Alpine’s line-up will also include an electric crossover and an electric hot hatchback.

While those more volume-friendly models will be crucial to Alpine increasing its global footprint, company CEO Laurent Rossi is adamant that the A110 will continue to play a core role as a halo car and as an embodiment of the brand’s sporting credentials.

New electric Alpine A110 to keep retro design cues | Autocar

2026 electric two-seater will still be a clear descendant of 1960s original, albeit with some ‘futuristic’ cues

www.autocar.co.uk

 

[FiestaST]

Alpine reveals electric A110 convertible as EV testbed

French coupé is reimagined as an EV, giving clues as to an eventual electric sports car

French performance brand Alpine has revealed the electric A110 E-ternité as an intriguing glimpse of its all-EV future - hinting at the techniques its next-gen cars will use to minimise weight and maintain agility.

Unveiled on the 60th anniversary of the Alpine A110, it is not only the brand's first running and driving electric car, but also its first drop-top, featuring a removable roof section that has minimal impact on the car's rigidity and silhouette.

Its unveiling comes just days after company CEO Laurent Rossi gave Autocar new details of the next-generation Alpine A110, which will swap its mid-mounted turbo four-pot for a pure-electric powertrain - but remain a highly bespoke proposition even as the sporting brand launches a line of models based on Renault-derived EV platforms.

"We hope to preserve the A110 DNA, and it might be quite different from the rest of the cars, despite platform sharing,” he said. “There’s nothing more similar than two electric cars nowadays: same platforms, same electric power, distributed to all wheels if you’re lucky, and it’s pretty much a matter of fine-tuning the output of the motors."

The new E-ternité prototype is not explicitly said to be a preview of the 2025 A110 EV, but it stands as a showcase of the brand's commitment to the coupé's fan-favourite formula: compact, lightweight, dynamically capable and engagingly quick.

Alpine A110 E-Ternité previews future electric sports car | Autocar

French coupé is reimagined as an open-top testbed for an eventual electric sports car

www.autocar.co.uk

 

[FiestaST]

Alpine A110 E-ternite is an electric convertible that shows future of the brand

The original Alpine A110 is 60 years old and to celebrate it, the French performance automaker released its first electric car - the A110 E-ternite. To spice things up even more, the company gave its new sports car a removable roof, well - central part of it at least - and doing so created the first Alpine convertible.

Next generation Alpine A110 will be a pure electric car, no more mid-mounted turbo charged engines. The upcoming model will share the EV platform with Renault, but the company bosses are promising the Alpine will remain a bespoke performance car.

The A110 E-ternite is more of a “rolling laboratory” than the preview of the next generation A110. The car uses the same chassis as the outgoing car and swaps the petrol engine for a single electric motor pushing out 239 horsepower and 221 lb-ft of torque. Top speed comes at 155 mph and the 0 to 100 kph sprint takes 4.5 seconds.

Alpine A110 E-ternite is an electric convertible that shows future of the brand

This is the first electric vehicle from the French performance car brand and it showcases the future of the next generation Alpine A110.

www.arenaev.com

https://media.alpinecars.com/a110-e-ternite-un-prototype-100-electrique-a-la-pointe-de-linnovation-alpine/

 

[FiestaST]

Hardcore Alpine A110 R is stiffer, lighter track car

Most track-focused A110 yet to crown model range and arrive with near-£70,000 price tag

Alpine has crowned the Alpine A110 line-up with a stripped-back, hardcore variant with weight and performance figures that would usually be the preserve of lightweight, open-wheel track-day cars.

Called the A110 R – for ‘radical’ – it has been devised as a no-compromise, circuit-oriented plaything heavily inspired by Alpine’s involvement in motorsport.

Sitting above the entry-level A110, mid-rung GT and stiffened S (and thus likely to be priced above £70,000), the R will complete the core A110 family when it goes on sale later this month. However, bosses have not disclosed whether further variants could arrive before the sports car goes electric in 2026.

With hot laps at the top of its agenda, it weighs just 1082kg – down 34kg on the “already very light” A110 S and lighter, even, than the latest iteration of the 2.0-litre Mazda MX-5.

Mass has been shed chiefly by the fitment of lighter bucket seats, the removal of noise insulation from the engine bay, the swapping of the glass rear panel for an aluminium item and the use of carbon fibre for the bonnet, wheels and new-shape rear ‘window’ panel.

But it’s the enhanced focus on dynamic agility that marks the R out most obviously from its stablemates. In consultation with Alpine’s Formula 1 engineers at Enstone, the team at Les Ulis has created a much more purposeful aero package, while overhauling the chassis for maximum stiffness and response.

Hardcore Alpine A110 R arrives from £89,990 | Autocar

Most track-focused A110 yet to crown model range; limited-run Fernando Alonso edition priced at £129,440

www.autocar.co.uk

 

[FiestaST]

This is the lightweight, track-ready Alpine A110 R

A110 shakes off its sense of humour and gains some serious motorsport focus

Details, details, details. Alpine wanted to make a faster version of the A110. I guess they could have chipped the engine. They didn't. The engine in the new A110 R remains at 300bhp, same as the A110 S. But the rest. Oh man, the details they've played with.

The result is a car its engineers say 'feels very different on a track' than the A110 S.

Of course it's still a road car with numberplates and all. But a noisier, less comfortable and convenient one. You can't see backwards, because the entire rear screen is replaced by a panel of carbonfibre. Oh yes, some of those detail changes are pretty big details.

Let's start with the raw numbers, then look at the intricacies of how Alpine has achieved them.

It weighs just 1,082kg. That's usefully lighter than the other A110 versions of course. Also, vastly lighter than comparable mid-engined two-seaters. A base-model Cayman, also a 300bhp four-cylinder turbo with twin-clutch transmission, is 1,440kg.

So 'just' 300bhp from its 1.8-litre engine is enough to get it to 62mph in 3.9 seconds, by Alpine's measurement. The brakes are uprated Brembos. If the longitudinal forces of going and stopping are improved by the expected work of less weight and more braking, the lateral forces are what benefits from the exceptional labours. It's the extra grip that sets this thing apart.

For that, Alpine has called on its racing division. The A110 R has spent a lot of time getting blown about in the Formula One wind tunnel at Enstone. Its exploiting of carbon composites also calls on motorsport expertise. Most of the new parts that have been shaped by the former are made of the latter.

This is the lightweight, track-ready Alpine A110 R

A110 shakes off its sense of humour and gains some serious motorsport focus

www.topgear.com

 

[FiestaST]

Alpine A110 R

This much-awaited latest version rounds out the A110 range. Extreme, light, more streamlined, and more inspired by motor sports than ever - 'radical' is the only way of describing the car that now sits as the crowning jewel of the A110 line-up. The ultimate expression of lightness and performance, the Alpine A110 R was designed to be sensational on the racetrack yet still certified for the open road.

The first main difference with the A110 R is seen through the extensive work put in to reducing its overall weight down to as little as 1,082kg - 34kg less than the A110 S. Its aerodynamic performance has been enhanced for greater downforce and reduced drag. For the first time ever on the A110 range, some parts (e.g. the bonnet, rear window, and diffuser) have been redesigned specifically for the new model. The exclusive improvements made to the chassis, along with the 1.8L 300HP motor, and race-car interior, feed into the heightened radical feel that make the driving experience more intense than ever before.

Taking just 3.9 seconds to go from 0-100km/h, the All-new Alpine A110 R pushes the boundaries of sports cars. Building off the brand's commitment to motor sports, the design phase involved direct input from top-level experts and is more than ready to beat the clock when it takes to the racetrack. Made in France at the Manufacture Alpine Dieppe Jean Rédélé, this latest car marks the beginning of a new chapter for the brand's expertise in motor sports.

https://www.netcarshow.com/alpine/2023-a110_r/

 

[FiestaST]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1579201304345264129

 

[FiestaST]

Alpine Alpenglow EV concept teased

Alpine is expected to give more details regarding its upcoming Alpenglow EV sports car in two days as it showcases the vehicle during this year's Paris Motor Show between October 17 and 23. To build up the hype the company released a teaser image, revealing a few details early.

The teaser shows high fenders over the wheels and a LED strip along the front of the car referencing the company's history in long-distance racing. Alpine says that the design language of the Alpenglow will carry over to all EV models planned for the future.

Alpine Alpenglow EV concept teased

The EV's design also reveals the future design language of upcoming Alpine models.

www.arenaev.com