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Alpine A120 Bespoke Aluminum Body Teased

Seeing the aluminum body of a car is not as exciting as it used to be a few decades ago. But we're so pleased to see the space that will be occupied by a mid-mounted turbo just a few weeks from now.
Alpine A120 Bespoke Aluminum Body Teased 1 photo
Photo: YouTube screenshot
As far as teaser videos go, this is a pretty bad one, just like the rest of the Alpine reveal process. It's 2017, and yet Renault still wants us to be excited about a slideshow.

But the good news is that the sports car will make its official debut at the Geneva Motor Show and might hit the web even sooner than that.

Our reports suggest the space behind the driver will be occupied by a 1.8-liter turbo engine derived from the 1.6-liter used in the Clio RS. However, this has not yet been confirmed, and with the Megane RS rumored to pack 300 horsepower, it's looking more and more likely that we'll see a 2.0-liter instead. A 0 to 100 km/h (0-62 mph) sprint time of 4.5 seconds has already been confirmed. However, that's achieved with launch control, so don't expect a super-speedy machine.

The French carmaker has already let slip that it will make 1955 first edition models for which €2,000 pre-order deposits will be placed. The whole thing will probably cost somewhere in the region of between €55,000 and €60,000, placing this squarely up against the Porsche Cayman.

Alpine's comeback car might be named the A120 as a tribute to the original A110 performance version, and it will be available in 12 European countries at first, followed by RHD markets like the UK and Japan this summer.

While a Porsche alternative is always welcomed, we can't help but feel this project won't be hugely successful. The first Alpine was too quirky to appeal to a wide selection of clients, and they are apparently copying its design this time around too.

The possibility of an Alpine SUV is riding on the success of this sports coupe. But we can already hear the "they want Porsche money for a Megane engine" critics. Let's hope we're paranoid!

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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