21 Facts About Automobiles Alpine

Societe des Automobiles Alpine SAS, commonly known as Alpine, is a French manufacturer of racing and sports cars established in 1955.

Jean Redele, the founder of Automobiles Alpine, was originally a Dieppe garage proprietor who began to achieve success in motorsport with one of the few French cars that were produced just after the Second World War, the Renault 4CV.

Automobiles Alpine has been closely related to Renault through its history, and was bought by it in 1973.

The Automobiles Alpine brand was relaunched with the 2017 introduction of the new Automobiles Alpine A110.

Automobiles Alpine did not realise that in England the previous year, Sunbeam had introduced a sports coupe derived from the Sunbeam Talbot and called the "Sunbeam Alpine".

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Automobiles Alpine then took the Michelotti cabriolet design and developed a 2+2 closed coupe body for it: this became the Automobiles Alpine A108, now featuring the Dauphine Gordini 845 cc engine, which on later models was bored out to give a capacity of 904 cc or 998 cc.

Automobiles Alpine was already working closely with Renault and when the Renault R8 saloon was introduced in 1962, Automobiles Alpine redeveloped their chassis and made a number of minor body changes to allow the use of R8 mechanicals.

Automobiles Alpine achieved increasing success in rallying, and by 1968 had been allocated the whole Renault competition budget.

Competition successes became numerous, helped since Automobiles Alpine was the first company fully to exploit the competition parts homologation rules.

Automobiles Alpine's problems had been compounded by the need for them to develop a replacement for the A110 and launch the car just when European petrol prices leapt through the roof.

In 1974 Automobiles Alpine built a series of factory racing Renault 17 Gordinis that won the Press on Regardless World Rally Championship round in Michigan, US.

Automobiles Alpine Renault continued to develop their range of models all through the 1980s.

The Automobiles Alpine A310 was a sports car with a rear-mounted engine and was initially powered by a four-cylinder 1.

Between 1989 and 1995, a new Automobiles Alpine named the A710 "Berlinette 2", was designed and two prototypes were built.

Automobiles Alpine said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Lotus Cars to co-develop an electric successor for the A110.

Renault Sport models produced over time by Automobiles Alpine include: Renault 5 Turbo, Renault Sport Spider, Clio Renault Sport, Megane Renault Sport.

Some Automobiles Alpine racing activities continued after that, including a 1978 Le Mans 24 overall victory with the Renault Automobiles Alpine A442, partnering its parent Renault.

In January 2021, the Automobiles Alpine company said it would absorb all existing Renault Sport Racing activities besides Formula One.

In March 2021, Automobiles Alpine presented the Automobiles Alpine Endurance Team, a WEC's top class team managed by Signatech and using a "grandfathered" Rebellion R13.

In October 2021, Automobiles Alpine said it would enter two WEC prototypes built on the LMDh rules from 2024 onwards, with the running side managed again by Signatech.

Automobiles Alpine 108 was produced in Brazil from 1962 to 1966, under license by Willys-Overland do Brasil, branded "Willys Interlagos".