The Alpine sports car had seen a bumpy road in its development where the fall-out with Caterham had severely delayed its debut. But the days of waiting might soon be over as the new Alpine might soon be launched in February.
Posting on the brand’s Twitter account, the Renault-owned company said: “We wanted to announce our come back, but some would say we never left”. There is also a short video revealing the date ’16.02.16’, which might suggest the date for the launch of the spiritual successor to the iconic A110.
Reports are saying that the new Alpine will be called the A120 and be offered with a range of specifications. All of them will get a turbocharged 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine based on the 1.6-liter power plant found in the Renault Clio RS. However, it will be tweaked for more performance and be coupled with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission recently developed for the Renault Talisman.
The A120 is expected to come with 250-horsepower in standard trim, but it is believed that a 300-horsepower variant is being developed as well. Since the A120 will weigh around 1100kg, the rivals for this Alpine will be cars like the Porsche Cayman and the Alfa Romeo 4C.
The 1100kg weight is achieved by using aluminium throughout the vehicle’s construction. At first the target weight for the car is 1,000kg, but such weight could not be achieved without the use of carbon fiber which at the same time will raise the cost of the car.
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