At the Rétromobile Paris 2026 classic car show, three versions of the Alpine A110 – the marque’s most enduring and successful model to date – were exhibited on the manufacturer’s stand.
It is no secret that the 70-year-old French sports car maker will end production of the current petrol-engined variant in June 2026. The model’s replacement will be an all-new fully electric model, expected in 2027. What better send-off then than a trio of A110s representing the best of the first generation, the model’s triumphant rally era and the newest, most extreme iteration of the critically acclaimed second-gen car.
Taking centre spot on the display was an Alpine A110 in its most iconic guise, that of a Works rally car. Built in 1975, the 1800 S Group 4 Berlinette finished second overall at the 1975 Tour de Corse with Jean-Pierre Nicolas and Vincent Laverne. Jean Ragnotti and Jean-Pierre Aujoulet went one better in 1976, winning the Tour Auto of Réunion Island.
Weighing just 710kg, the car’s 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine produced 170bhp, driving the rear wheels through a five-speed gearbox. Light, and clearly fast enough, the model’s agility was its superpower. Older siblings of the show car had swept all before them to win the 1971 International Championship for Manufacturers along with the inaugural World Rally Championship for manufacturers in 1973. Inspirational images and videos of those Alpine A110s power-dancing across icy rally stages quickly became much-loved additions to rallying’s visual lexicon.
Flanking the competition car was an A110 1600 SX and an A110 R Ultime. The former was the last of the first-generation Alpine A110s to emerge from the company’s Dieppe plant. Finished in Vert Normandy, a fetching shade of metallic green nicknamed ‘Berliverte’ by marque enthusiasts, the car was delivered in 1977 to a former Alpine employee, who has kept it ever since.
Listening to Alpine’s technology and heritage communications manager Jean-Pascal Dauce at Rétromobile was memorable, his unequivocal passion for the A110 vividly on display as he shared its history and technical specification. Featuring a steel-backbone chassis, glassfibre and polyester body, double-wishbone suspension front and rear, disc brakes all round, 790kg kerbweight and 95bhp from its inline-four engine, the 1600 SX offered outstanding dynamics and a top speed of more than 120mph.
Separated by almost 50 years, the Alpine A110 R Ultime is, as its name suggests, the ultimate evolution of the second-generation A110 launched back in 2017. With a base price in the region of £235,000 and production limited to 110 units worldwide, it’s an exclusive piece of kit. From an engine not much larger in capacity than that of its 1977 forebear, it delivers up to 340bhp [on 102-octane fuel] and 420Nm courtesy of GT4-derived engine components such as forged pistons and conrods. It features adjustable Öhlins suspension, Michelin Cup 2 tyres, a comprehensive aero package and a significant upgrade to the braking system. Weighing just over 1100kg, its headline performance figure is a 0-62mph time of 3.8 seconds.
The Ultime also introduces Alpine’s broadest customisation programme yet, with 27 body colours, multiple wheel and brake-caliper finishes, and extensive interior options. The Rétromobile car showcased a sold-out livery called La Bleue which is a combination of the brand’s iconic Alpine Blue up front blending into the darker Abyss Blue at the rear. According to Alpine UK’s PR and comms manager Archie Finnie, one has already been sold to a UK customer – although he would not say to whom. Perhaps Gordon Murray’s pre-opening visit to the stand was a clue, perhaps not…
Upon arrival earlier that day, Magneto had been whisked away to Atelier Alpine in the heart of Paris. Akin to a concept store or brand boutique, the Atelier is just the spot to experience all things Alpine, from configuring your new A110, A290 or A390 to purchasing a pair of Alpine sneakers, improving your sim driving skills or just having a cup of coffee surrounded by fellow marque enthusiasts.
A post-lunch briefing included a showing of an award-winning promotional asset that we’d missed on first release back in June last year. It’s hard not to watch Alpine’s brilliant three-minute 70th anniversary tribute film without feeling a strong sense of admiration for this small, focused marque.
Directed by Antoine Bardou-Jacquet, the stylish production combines live-action footage of vintage models with animated scenes inspired by classic comic books such as Michel Vaillant. It tells the Alpine story in a series of historical highlights, beginning with company founder Jean Rédélé turning a Renault 4CV into a competitive rally car by stripping unnecessary weight. It worked; he went on to claim a prestigious Coupe des Alpes (Alpine Cup) in 1954.
The narrative then skips to the creation of the brand in 1955 and its participation in the Mille Miglia with Alpine’s first car, the A106, which was based on the Renault 4CV with a tubular-backbone chassis and a glassfibre body styled by Michelotti. This is followed by a series of late-1960s campaigns at the Le Mans 24 Hours with the promising A210 and A220 scoring class wins and first places in the Index of Efficiency. Filling all the podium spots at the 1971 Monte Carlo Rally was a result the marque would repeat in 1973. “What is Alpine’s secret?” asks a journalist. “Lightness. It’s all about lightness,” answers Rédélé.
The 1978 Le Mans win for Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and Didier Pironi in the Alpine Renault A442B Turbo ‘Bubble-top’, the arrival of the A310, the 2017 rebirth of the brand, the LMP2-class victory at Le Mans in 2019 and the 2021 Formula 1 Hungarian GP win also feature. Ending the story with a 2.2-tonne Crossover GT while reiterating your 70-year-old motto ‘Lightness is a force’ [strength], may not ring absolutely true for everyone, but the rest of the film hits all the right evocative notes. It’s a story of a small agile brand punching well above its weight, achieving the extraordinary with remarkable regularity.
On the surface, Alpine looks to be in a good space, with its Barcelona and Paris Ateliers soon to be joined by a London edition, as well as new dealerships opening – Alpine Edinburgh being added just this week – a growing model line-up and year-on-year sales up 139 percent, too. Sounds impressive, right? It’s all relative, though.
In 2025, Alpine sold 10,970 units, breaching the 10,000 mark for the first time in its history. By way of comparison, Lamborghini also broke its sales record, shifting 10,747 cars last year. It is clear that we are yet to see the full sales impact of the introduction of the still-new A290 hatch (recently announced as the UK Car of the Year award winner in the Performance Car category) and the even more recent A390. These have significantly broadened the marque’s model palette, with the promise of the aforementioned all-new, fully electric A110, an A110-based roadster and a ‘reborn’ four-seat A310 sports coupé, along with two new D/E-segment cars, still to come – and all before 2030.
No doubt Alpine will be hoping to treble its overall sales volumes in very short order. It will then need to treble that again if it hopes to meet its revenue target of €8 billion in the same time frame. Proposed launches into larger markets such as the US and China will need to prove successful to turn what is essentially a niche brand into a global force.
But what of the halo Alpine A110, the model that most epitomises the marque and its founder’s ethos? The market for electric sports cars is not exactly booming. Will the beloved A110 be forced to live in the shadow of crossovers and large SUVs, or will it continue the legacy and do something extraordinary once again? Roll on 2027.
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