Renault Alpine to be reborn

RENAULT is preparing to tear the covers from a sleek and sporty concept car that pays homage to the iconic Alpine A110 coupe of the 1960s.

To be unveiled at this week’s Monaco Grand Prix, the car was teased by the French car-maker in a Yahoo video highlighting the coupe's racy lines after an alleged image of the car, including Alpine badging at the front, leaked online earlier this week.

The brief flashes of bodywork shown in the video appear to confirm the legitimacy of the leaked image.

The car in the solitary leaked image is an electric blue and orange coupe featuring the curvaceous styling of the DeZir concept car from the 2010 Paris motor show.

Similarities between the two cars include the 'eyelid' headlights, oversized Renault logo, wraparound windscreen, Audi R8-style rear 'sash' behind the rear window and prominent front wheel arches.

In a statement, Renault said the concept would blend “the past and the future of the brand”, and had been designed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of “an emblematic Renault Vehicle”, understood to be the original A110.

Renault has confirmed that the concept, reportedly called the Alpine A110-50, will have 294kW of power, believed to come from a mid-mounted V6 engine.

Respected British publication Autocar reports the concept will be based on the tubular-framed chassis from the Megane Trophy race car.

Not much else is known about the car, although Renault's global president of marketing and communication Stephen Norman told Autocar at the Geneva motor show in March that the car-maker would “do everything we can to make it work” for production in a little over two years.

The original A110 was built by stand-alone French sportscar manufacturer Alpine using rear-mounted Renault powertrains. In 1970, Renault purchased the Alpine brand, and in 1973 took the car to the inaugural World Rally Championship.