- French automaker Renault showed this rally-spec Alpine A110 mid-engine sports car concept at the International Automobile Festival in Paris.
- It’s based on the Alpine A110, which is powered by a turbocharged 1.8-liter inline-four.
- Renault said that there are no plans for production, but we think the company should consider adding an off-road-spec A110 to the lineup.
Alpine’s mid-engine sports car, the A110, now has a rally concept variant called the SportsX that’s meant to pay homage to the A110’s rally success in the 1970s. It’s raised almost two and a half inches, is just over three inches wider, and looks ready to tackle any rally course.
The SportsX concept is based on the compelling A110 mid-engine sports car that we won’t get here in the U.S. The standard A110 is powered by a turbocharged 1.8-liter inline-four making 248 horsepower and 236 lb-ft of torque, and it’s likely this one-off has the same engine. The standard A110 is 164.5 inches long, 70.8 inches wide, and 49.3 inches high, which makes it slightly smaller than the Subaru BRZ. But the SportsX rally concept is wider and taller than the standard A110, so you could rally the hell out of it.
This concept has an updated, more rugged fascia, underbody protection, and a white and black two-tone paint job. And, since it’s meant to be a rally car and honor the automaker’s win at the 1973 Monte Carlo Rally, it’s equipped with big Michelin Primacy tires—and has skis on it.
Unfortunately, Renault said that there’s no plan for this thing to go into production. It’ll just be an awesome one-off rally car to drool over for now, but we think Renault really ought to add an off-road-spec A110 to the mid-engine sports car’s lineup.