Renault’s long drawn out plan to bring back the Alpine brand is now taking shape with the arrival of the mid-engined Alpine A120 sports car. The sports coupe is expected to make its debut at the start of 2017 ahead of the planned release sometime in the third quarter of the year. But new details have emerged about the Alpine A120 as there now appears to be plans to expand the brand’s lineup with different variants of the A120.
Word from Autocar reveals that a convertible is expected to follow the coupe in due time and a high performance variant is also in the pipeline. Details surrounding these additional variants are still being kept under wraps, but it is understood that both models are already in “advanced” development so information about them could be coming sooner than later.
For now, all eyes are on the A120 as it gears up for its long-awaited unveiling, which in itself has been years in-the-making as a result of several false starts that plagued the project. But now that it’s getting close to finally becoming a real thing, the expectation is that the A120 will be using a 1.8-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that will develop close to 300 horsepower, giving it a higher output than both the 240-horsepower Alfa Romeo 4C and right about the same figure as the Porsche 718 Cayman. All of the power generated by the A120’s turbo four will likely course through a revised version of the Renault Clio RS’s six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, allowing it to sprint from 0 to 62 mph in just under 4.5 seconds.
Once sales for the A120 commences next year, the sports coupe is tipped to get a starting price of about £50,000 to £55,000, or the equivalent of about $53,000 to $58,000 based on current exchange rates. Alpine managing director Michael van der Sande also hinted that production for the car could range from 5,000 to 7,000 units on an annual basis with models being sold in a handful of dealerships across Europe. Don’t expect the A120 to hit U.S. shores anytime soon.
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from Top Speed http://ift.tt/2fJDbwh
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