Alpine, part of the Renault group, has revealed its new Vision show car.
The production car will closely resemble the concept, when it goes on sale in 2017. “Motorsports and sports cars are deeply rooted in the DNA of Groupe Renault,” said Carlos Ghosn, Groupe Renault Chairman and CEO. “Earlier this month we announced our return to Formula One with a Renault team, and today we are announcing Alpine. This is an exciting next step in our strategy to leverage talent and technology between road and track, and we look forward to reaching new customers in the sport premium cars segment.”
The show car Alpine Vision combines ‘sensual design with outstanding agility’, and is inspired by the Alpine A110 Berlinette of the 1960s. The Alpine Vision is powered by a new 4 cylinder turbocharged engine which, combined with the cars low weight offers a 0-62mph time of less than 4.5 seconds - the target for the future production model.
Alpine will be managed by a small team with one sole mission, according to Renault - ‘to meet and exceed the expectations of the demanding sport premium customer’. “All of us at Alpine are proud to have been entrusted with the task of bringing back Alpine to sports car lovers around the world”, said Michael van der Sande, Alpine Managing Director. “Our job is to faithfully re-interpret famous Alpines of the past and project Alpine into the future with a beautifully designed, agile, high-performance sports car. Our Alpine Vision show car is immediately recognizable as an Alpine yet resolutely modern. We look forward to revealing the production model later this year.”
Over the next 12 months, the Alpine team will focus on building ‘an outstanding car, very close to today’s show car in terms of design, weight, handling, agility and attention to detail’. Priorities will also include building out the team and the network, and finally, to pursue racing.
The new Alpine will go on sale in 2017 initially in Europe, followed by other markets worldwide.