Dossier de presse Press kit Alpine A110 Première Edition Contents Introduction 3 Relaunching Alpine 4 Technical Details 6 Design and Interior 9 History of Alpine 10 Alpine in Motorsport 12 Technical Data 14 For more information: Gilles Gautherot General Manager Communications +33 6 11 76 09 38 [email protected] Websites: alpinecars.com/en/media/ media.renault.com Follow us on Twitter: @Alpine_cars @Alpine_carsUK Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/alpinesportscars Photos: Instagram: alpine_cars Pinterest: Alpine Cars 2/14 Introduction Alpine is back with the A110 Première Edition sports coupé True to Alpine DNA - lightweight, agile and a pleasure to drive €58,500 Première Edition launch model is fully reserved Production series A110 to follow The all-new A110 Première Edition is the lightweight, elegant sports coupé that signals the return of Alpine. True to Alpine’s DNA, the A110 Première Edition places absolute agility and driving pleasure front and centre, without compromising on everyday comfort. Designed and manufactured in France the mid-engined, two-seater coupé features aluminium construction to keep weight to a minimum and sophisticated double wishbone suspension. The A110 Première Edition is powered by a turbocharged 1.8-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, which develops 252PS. Like all Alpines, it’s rear-wheel drive. Limited to 1,955 examples - a nod to the year Alpine was founded - the A110 Première Edition was fully reserved within five days of going on sale. The production series A110 will follow shortly. The first new model for two decades, the A110 Première Edition marks the relaunch of Alpine. Conceived as a standalone business unit within Groupe Renault, Alpine has an ambitious long-term strategy that invokes the vision and determination of its founder, Jean Rédélé. As well as a rich heritage in building agile, lightweight sports cars that are in their element on winding mountain roads, Alpine is also well-known for competing at the highest level of international motorsport. Its crowning glories include winning the 1973 World Rally Championship title and outright victory at the 1978 24 Hours of Le Mans. It is in that same spirit that Alpine today competes in international endurance racing. Its title- winning FIA LMP2 World Endurance Championship programme showcases the brand’s ambition and commitment to motorsport. New for 2018, the recently announced one-make Alpine Europa Cup for race-prepared A110 Cups, which will be run by Alpine’s racing partner Signatech, demonstrates the coupé’s performance as well as Alpine’s commitment to customer racing. Michael van der Sande, Alpine managing director, comments: ‘It is an enormous privilege to relaunch a brand that instils such passion - but a big responsibility, too. This passion for Alpine, both within Groupe Renault and among sports car enthusiasts, is huge. It has long been our ambition to bring Alpine back. Now, the time is right. ‘With the new A110 Première Edition we’ve taken the core principles that made Alpine so successful in the Sixties and Seventies - such as compact size, light weight and a very low centre of gravity - and deployed them with modern technologies. The car is an absolute pleasure to drive on country roads or on the track, but also very comfortable to drive every day. ‘It is my mission to establish Alpine as a permanent fixture in the sports car segment.’ 3/14 Relaunching Alpine Alpine Vision show car presented in 2016 A110 Première Edition unveiled one year later Alpine established as a standalone business unit within Groupe Renault Original Alpine factory in Dieppe extended and upgraded for A110 production The Alpine project was announced in 2012 and four years later, in 2016, the Alpine Vision show car was unveiled in Monaco. A year later, the road-going A110 Première Edition made its public debut at the Geneva motor show. Conceived as a responsive, fast-moving standalone brand under the Groupe Renault umbrella, Alpine has its own dedicated design and engineering teams. Carving its own clear niche in the sports car segment, the A110 Première Edition goes on sale in 11 markets in Europe, as well as Japan and Australia, with further markets still to be announced. It will be sold through dedicated dealerships - some 57 in Europe alone - by knowledgeable and highly trained advisors. The initial batch of 1,955 A110 Première Editions was allocated via a mobile app, which allowed buyers to place a refundable deposit and reserve a car. Every one of those A110 Première Editions was reserved within five days, illustrating the level of excitement there is for Alpine’s return among sports car enthusiasts. Order books for the production series model will open soon, although the app can be used to secure a position on the waiting list immediately. A110 Première Edition deliveries will commence in continental Europe in March 2018 and in right- hand drive markets in the second quarter of 2018. The A110 will be manufactured at Alpine’s factory in Dieppe, northern France. Originally built by Alpine-founder Jean Rédélé in 1969, the Dieppe site has continued to produce low-volume, high performance Renault Sport cars in recent years. Now, Alpine production will return to Dieppe and as part of the relaunch, the factory has been heavily upgraded and modernised. Bernard Ollivier, Alpine deputy managing director, comments: ‘In 2012, at the beginning of the project, I was appointed to create a new Alpine sports car from a blank sheet of paper. It had to be true to the DNA of Alpine - agility through light weight, very elegant and a pleasure to drive. ‘We gave our designers complete freedom to imagine what a modern day Alpine should look like. They had very few technical constraints. It is unusual to approach it this way, but that is the reason for the very strong design we have today. ‘Starting from a blank sheet of paper we could also create our own platform. One of the big objectives for the A110 was ‘feel at one’ - the driver should feel at one with the machine. That means the centre of gravity and the roll centre have to be very low in the car, which you can only do with a dedicated platform. ‘I set a weight target for the car of 1,100kg, which is very difficult to achieve. That is why we decided to use aluminium for the chassis and body. The final result, just 1,080kg (1,103kg for the Première Edition), means we achieved our objective of making the A110 one of the lightest cars in its class.’ Michael van der Sande adds: ‘Since we announced the relaunch of Alpine, the response has amazed us all. Even though Alpine went away for 20 years there is still so much passion and enthusiasm for it, not only in France, but all over the world, too. ‘The first thing we did when we announced the return of Alpine was develop a design language that would do justice to the original models, while also demonstrating our ambition and modernity. We then developed a technical concept - one of lightweight construction and absolute driving pleasure - that would make the new car stand out in the sports car segment. From the beginning we said the new car had to be true to Alpine’s DNA. Only once we had achieved that did we build the business model to go with it. ‘We decided Alpine should be a dedicated business unit with its own designers and engineers. We wanted these very passionate and skilled individuals to be completely dedicated to Alpine, to work closely together in agile, responsive teams. We’ve also developed a dedicated network of dealerships with highly-trained advisors. We felt only this approach would enable us to be sharp enough in front of a very demanding set of customers. 4/14 ‘I am so pleased Alpine production is returning to the factory in Dieppe, in the very same production plant that was used to build Alpines all those years ago. The whole setup and culture there is still geared around low-volume, high-quality, sporty cars. Employee motivation is very high at Dieppe and the team there is very proud to wear the Alpine logo. It’s a fantastic group of people. ‘We have put a lot of thought and investment into the factory - which is set up for production numbers in single digit thousands each year - to bring it up to the level we need in terms of fit and finish, consistency and quality control.’ 5/14 Technical Details Lightweight aluminium construction Double wishbone suspension Mid-mounted 252PS turbocharged engine Absolute agility and driving pleasure combined with everyday comfort Aluminium construction Lightweight, agile and rewarding to drive, the A110 Première Edition is above all else a true Alpine. Designed from a blank sheet it has been engineered to thrill and engage the driver at all speeds, prioritising driving pleasure above lap times and outright power. It does this without compromising on everyday comfort, and it can be enjoyed by drivers at all levels of experience or ability. Its lightweight construction, low roll centre and perfect weight distribution allow the driver to feel at one with the machine. The aluminium chassis and bodywork form the basis for the A110’s poise and agility. Bonded and riveted to reduce weight even further, the compact aluminium body offers the best possible balance between rigidity, weight and build quality. At just 1080kg (with fluids) the lightweight A110 occupies its own niche within the sports car segment, offering a uniquely engaging driving experience. Additional weight saving measures include aluminium suspension components, very lightweight Sabelt sports seats that weigh just 13.1kg each and, in a world first application, Brembo brakes that incorporate the parking brake into the main rear caliper.