Alpine does not build many cars like the Alpine A110-50: a 2-door coupe with 3.5-liter Nissan-Renault VQ35DE V6, built from 2012 as electrification stopped being an experiment and the crossover took every market. Its designer of record is Yann Jarsalle.
Where it came from
The Alpine A110-50 (codenamed ZAR for "Alpine revival", with Z being the letter used for Renault concepts) is a concept racing car created by Renault to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1962 Alpine A110 It debuted at Monaco's GP circuit, where Renault Chief Operating Officer Carlos Tavares raced the A110-50 for four laps of the Monaco track.
The Alpine A110-50 has all carbonfibre bodywork, a mid-engine layout, and tubular frame. It is built upon the same platform and shares its mechanicals with the Sport Mégane Trophy race car. Because the A110-50's height is lower than that of Mégane Trophy, the roll cage and bracing in the engine bay were lowered in the workshop of Tork Engineering. The entire car weighs 1,940 lb (880 kg), and its weight distribution is 47.8 percent front and 52.2 percent rear. With a naturally aspirated 395-hp variation of the Mégane Trophy's 3.5-liter V6 based on the Nissan VQ engine, it has a 456bhp/ton power-to-weight ratio. The inlet manifold is fed by a new roof-mounted air intake which broadens the engine's power band, with additional horsepower at all engine speeds. A110-50's front splitter and rear diffuser generate ground effect, and account for a third of the car's downforce, while the other two-thirds comes from the rear wing. The body can be raised with integrated pneumatic jacks for easier servicing. The steering wheel features a color screen and employs the same technology as a Formula Renault 3.5 single-seat race car. The A110-50 has highly adjustable double wishbone suspension with Sachs dampers. It utilises a six-speed semi-autom
Under the skin
Under the skin sits 3.5-liter Nissan-Renault VQ35DE V6. Kerb weight is 1940 lb. The gearbox is a 6-speed semi-automatic sequential. The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Where it sits in Alpine's history is not in doubt: the Alpine A110 came before it; the Alpine A110 (2017) followed it. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Peugeot 208, the Tesla Model X, the Mazda CX-5. Nearby in the Alpine catalogue sit the Alpine A110 and the Alpine A110 (2017).