All indications point to Alpine’s first true modern sports car, the A110, being an unmitigated triumph in delivering thrills where it counts, wrapped in a compact body and rather luxuriously built interior. The mid-engine contender is therefore a true rival to Porsche’s 718 Cayman, but its fixed roof means it is yet to make the Boxster quake.
However, according to French motoring outlet DownShift, the A110 is due to spawn a new convertible body style alongside a more powerful variant, sporting an uprated version of the 1.8-litre turbocharged four-cylinder lifted from the Renault Megane RS Trophy. The presumed bump in power by roughly 35kW should propel the lightweight 2-seater to 100km/h in around 4 seconds.
This more performance-minded version of the A110 should be more of a match to the 718 Cayman S, itself packing a 2.5-litre turbocharged flat-four with 269kW and 430Nm, especially in a straight line where the German car is able to dispatch the same sprint in 4.1 seconds.
Of course, those acceleration predictions are based on the A110 maintaining its six-speed dual-clutch transmission. The company has already confirmed, though, that a manual option will be offered soon.
A subject of greater contention lies with the Alpine losing its roof, potentially robbing the car of its unique silhouette and its characteristic handling sharpness. Due to its small dimensions, Renault-owned automaker will likely need to further reinforce the lower portions of its fully aluminium shell to maintain structural rigidity at the expense of light weight.
With this in mind, perhaps the open top A110 will be aimed at an entirely different type of buyer and pegged as more of a sporty grand tourer instead, one with a slightly softer suspension setup, powertrain calibration to match, and perhaps a slightly more opulent cabin.
Should Alpine play their cards as expertly as they did most recently, they might have another highly sought after car on their hands, albeit a variation of an existing model. In other news, there are rumbles of the company looking into an SUV, but we’d take that a healthy pinch of salt.
