2018 Renault Alpine A110 Premiére Édition

Renault revived the sporting Alpine brand a few years ago dusting off a model badge that was last tacked to the back of a motor car in 1977. It then tasked its design team with creating a modern interpretation of the car that had worn that badge, borrowing as many styling cues from the original as they felt appropriate, squeezing in a visual reference to their bygone motorsport success – the 1971 Monte Carlo Rally win and the overall title win in the 1963 World Rally Championship – and set about building a new sports car.

The result was unveiled to a great fanfare at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2017, the new A110 heralding the return of Alpine to the world of desirable motor cars. Unlike its forebears, it was a mid-engined, all-aluminium design powered by a transversely-mounted 1.8-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine, which delivers its 250bhp via a seven-speed Getrag dual-clutch gearbox. Equally impressive is the torque figure, the maximum of 236lb/ft being delivered all the way from 2,000 to 5,000rpm, which in a car weighing only some 1,103kg results in impressive acceleration, 62mph/100kmh coming up in a mere 4.5 seconds on the way to an electronically-limited top speed of 155mph. Other noteworthy chassis features include a flat floor, active rear diffuser and double unequal-length wishbone suspension front and rear.

Looking to meet the demands of a long line of waiting enthusiasts, the A110 “Première Édition” was the first model available to the public, limited to 1,955 examples which quickly sold out. The Factory Specification on these launch models included a 7" central screen with navigation, Alpine MySpin, lightweight Focal sound system, Bluetooth connectivity, automatic climate control, touch control windows, Sabelt bucket-racing seats, aluminium pedals and footrest, leather and microfibre sports steering wheel with paddles, 18" Premiere Edition forged alloy wheels, high-performance brakes with 320mm discs front & rear, 4-fixed front calipers, single piston fixed rear calipers, cruise control with speed limiter, hill-start assist, remote central locking and more.

The superb, right-hand drive, Alpine A110 Première Édition (appropriately registered DC02 ALP) on offer today is Number 1215 of the 1955 built and was purchased new by our vendor from Renault London West. It’s gloriously finished in Alpine Blue and has covered just 869 delivery/commissioning miles, professionally stored since.

The launch edition of this gorgeous motor car sold out instantly and they seldom come to market making this a very rare opportunity. As always, we invite and encourage interested parties to come along to Race Retro and enjoy the beauty of this sleek little ‘Alpine’ for themselves.