A Retro Mid-Engined Coupe That Could Appear at Nissan Dealers is Almost Ready

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

A modern take on one of the sexiest four-cylinder cars of the 1960s will officially debut before the end of the year, and there’s a chance it will find its way to these shores.

Alpine, a reborn subsidiary of Renault, is putting the final touches on the production version of its Vision concept, a practical sports car that harkens back to the glory days of the nearly forgotten brand.

Parent company Renault has high hopes for the mid-engined two-seater, positioning the model as a French competitor to Britain’s Lotus Elise and Italy’s Alfa Romeo 4C. Of course, there’s the Germans, too.

Speaking to Automotive News Europe, Alpine boss Michael van der Sande claims he wants a model that’s “usable as a daily car,” despite its obvious sporting abilities. This could give the model a leg up over its competition by attracting a wider class of buyers. The Vision concept released earlier this year is a larger, more spacious two-seater — a combination of sportscar and sports coupe.

Alpine, bought by Renault in 1973 and declared defunct in 1995, spawned a classic in the early ’60s with its A110 coupe, a model the reborn brand means to emulate. A range of new Alpine models could follow, but Renault wants to play it safe. Reportedly, production of the new Alpine won’t top 5,000 units per year, and van der Sande claims the brand’s future depends on “the public reaction to the car.”

Renault motor sports chief Jerome Stoll has said in the past that Alpine will be a global brand, meaning its models aren’t confined by European borders. Will it come to the U.S.? There’s no official word on that, but the model looks appealing as a niche product.

It also wouldn’t be that difficult to bring stateside, as Renault is deeply intertwined with Nissan through a longstanding alliance. After laying some groundwork, select Nissan-Infiniti dealers could deliver the country’s share of Alpines to waiting customers.

The Alpine reportedly sports a turbocharged 1.8-liter four-cylinder making about 300 horsepower, and carries a price of about $56,000. If U.S. buyers like what they see, they’d better hope European customers snap up every Alpine in a hurry, boosting the brand’s confidence and making an American entry more likely.

[Images: Alpine Cars]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • APaGttH APaGttH on Oct 15, 2016

    For erections lasting longer than four hours...

  • Voyager Voyager on Oct 20, 2016

    Erh.... if Europeans buy more, there many not be too many left for the U.S. market. To be honest, that price tag lands it right into Cayman 2.0 territory. Hard to beat the Porsche badge, that stands for performance that has already been hailed in the press and for bulletproof engineering.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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