The final words of the teaser video reads ‘Alpine Is Back’ as the three mildly disguised A120 sports cars driving in unison fade to black, the long awaited return to the fabled French marque now owned and attempting a resurrection aided by Renault.
The A120 name itself is deliberately chosen to signify the car as a spiritual successor to the lightweight two-door sports coupe of the 1970s, with the new car sporting a good amount of resemblance to its iconic forebear.
Due for a full reveal in early 2017 - February, more specifically - the first proper Alpine model since 1995 is expected to look very much like the Alpine Vision Concept previewed earlier this year, with only very minor exterior revisions to be found.
It will be mid-engined like the A110, and because of Alpine’s lightweight philosophy, powered by a small engine lifted from a Renault hot hatch. Autocar UK believes it to be a 1.8-litre turbocharged four pot, a bored out version the Clio RS200’s 1.6-litre unit with at least 186kW that’s reported to be capable of launching the A120 to 100km/h in 4.5 seconds, outrunning all but the two most potent variants of the Porsche 718 Boxster.
Fitting, as the A120 is expected to be priced similarly to the Stuttgart roadster.
Speaking of which, a convertible version is also rumoured to be in development and should swiftly follow the release of the coupe. Alongside that, a more powerful performance variant should also be unveiled without much delay, boasting 224kW or more.
Of course, the success of the Alpine brand depends on more than just the fate of one car. And apart from the A120 there are rumours that the Renault-backed automaker is plotting an SUV to rival to the Porsche Macan.
Another possibility is a halo sports car with performance far exceeding the A120. Renault and Alpine had previously created the A110-50, a stunning motorsport-oriented vehicle that used a body repurposed from their DeZir concept and a mid-mounted 3.5-litre V6 lifted based on the Nissan VQ engine family from the Sport Megane Trophy racer.
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