One final drive in the epochal Alpine A110
When James Batchelor was invited to the launch of the new all-electric Alpine A390 SUV in the brand’s hometown of Dieppe, France, there was only one t
Car manufacturers who build just one car don’t tend to last very long these days. The time when a sports car maker could concentrate on honing its only product, which it had pored over for years and years, built for a loyal but small audience, is all but over. And yet that’s exactly how Alpine has operated for the last eight years.
The charismatic little French brand has quite happily been building the A110 sports car since 2017. But that changed this year when its range swelled with the Renault 5-derived A290 electric hot hatchback, and pulled the covers off an electric SUV – the A390.
It was the latter’s reveal that I was invited to earlier this year, and instead of just catching a plane to the world premiere in France, I thought I’d drive there in the most suitable car I could lay my hands on – an A110 S, my favourite of the A110 models. It would be a special drive not just because the car I was going to see owes its very existence to this little two-seater, but the aforementioned will be bowing out in 2026 to make way for a new electric age for Alpine. So, this drive would serve as my last taste of one of the greatest sports cars of the last decade.
The drive down to the home of Alpine, Dieppe, was a simple one. It takes around three hours from Calais – whether you fly along the autoroutes or elect to take the D-roads. I took the second option, and while it won’t go down as the one of the most spell-binding drives of my life, there was pleasure to be had nosing the A110 S through picture-perfect villages before letting the little 1.8-litre turbocharged engine sing on long, straight tree-lined avenues.
It was rather an uneventful drive, but it allowed me to reflect on what a special car the A110 is. While production started in 2017, the story of the revived sports car brand began some five years earlier when Renault Group signed a 50/50 partnership with Caterham to create a new sports car project. It would allow the tiny British sports car maker to push upwards into more premium circles occupied by Lotus, while, for Renault, it would allow the French manufacturer to bring back the Alpine brand that had been mothballed for over 20 years.
In 2014 the partnership collapsed, although Renault decided to plough on regardless, but alone. The car’s aluminium structure was a hangover from Caterham, but the design and detailing was pure Alpine. The quad lights, fluted bonnet, wide rear arches and wraparound rear window were faithful to the original A110 of the 1970s, yet the engine and technology were bang up to date. As reborn cars go, the A110 of 2017 is probably the finest of all.
The A110 S’s stiffer springs, 4mm lower ride height, and optional aero kit weren’t exactly tested on this relaxed jaunt along the coastline of northern France. Soon after passing through the town of Criel-sur-Mer, the remaining 23km of road to Dieppe began to get a little more interesting. The A390’s world premiere had brought out Alpines from all over Europe it seemed, as owners of original and new A110s, A310s, GTAs, A610s and even Alpine-tuned original Renault 5s negotiated their way through the busy town centre to the main esplanade. Here, Alpine had erected a large building to showcase the new member of the family that evening.
The next day called for an early start to visit the factory. It’s hard to describe how appreciated you are in Dieppe if you’re driving an Alpine; even at 8 am, people rushing to work showed their appreciation by waving, blowing kisses, and tooting their car horns. Jean Rédélé, Alpine’s founder, who was born there and set up shop just a stone’s throw from the town’s port, is still hailed as a local great. Alpine and Dieppe are almost like Ferrari and Maranello, but arguably more sophisticated.
The Alpine factory is unequivocally a matter of local pride. The story began in 1955 when Renault dealer and motorsport fanatic Rédélé decided to build his own cars. Throughout the 1970s, the factory, built in 1969, handcrafted the A110 Berlinette, while the A310, GTA and A610 kept the workers busy and the Alpine name alive well into the mid-1990s.
Renault finally mothballed Alpine in 1995, with the last car leaving the factory that April. Yet the Dieppe plant thrived, producing the Renault Sport Spider from 1996 before becoming home to many high-performance Renaults, with the Alpine name returning above the door for the reborn A110 of 2017.
It’s quite unlike any other factory I’ve ever been to. During my visit, a handful of A390s trundled down the production line, and before long, even more will roll along as production moves into top gear. The axe is hanging over the A110 – not just due to the A390 muscling in on its patch, but the company is drawing up plans for an electric replacement. But, for now, the factory is the A110’s playground.
Unlike some other plants I’ve visited, you can tell the workers love building the A110. It’s a mixture of automation and manual labour, like in most facilities, but there seems to be more human involvement at Dieppe. The cars creep along at a glacial pace, and roll off the end in tens rather than hundreds, with the complete build process taking around three weeks. At various points, the aluminium bodies are lovingly checked and checked again for quality control, the engine and suspension are bolted in, and the cars are test-driven for 15 miles before awaiting transportation.
While it’s a sad drive back to Calais knowing that the A110 is the last chapter in Dieppe’s petrol sports car novel, I doubt the factory and the town’s passion for cars will die just because a pure-electric future is on the horizon. If anything, the Alpine brand has never looked so healthy.
