ALPINE

A610

The successor to the Alpine GTA, the Alpine A610 was produced by the Renault-owned French manufacturer Alpine from 1991 to 1995. Due to a limited budget at the beginning of the project, its appearance does not differ much from the GTA, and it looks quite similar to the USA GTA with its pop-up headlights. Nonetheless, it is a completely different car, sharing only the windows with the GTA. The basic concepts of all Alpine cars are there (e.g. the rear engine, and the steel backbone chassis that all Alpines since the A110 have had). The car was solely branded as an Alpine, as linking Alpine and Renault together (first as Alpine-Renault then Renault-Alpine) seemed to detract from the Alpine brand's sporty image. The PRV engine remained, but it was enlarged to 3.0 litres (2,975 cc), which enabled it to produce 250 PS (247 bhp; 184 kW) at 5,750 rpm and 350 N⋅m (258 lbf⋅ft) of torque at 2,900 rpm. The engine was originally 2,975 cc (3.0 L; 181.5 cu in), but as with all PRV engines, it was downsized to 2,963 cc (3.0 L; 180.8 cu in) in March 1993 to better fit the Swiss taxation system. The A610 Albertville 92 was presented in 1991 for the Olympic Games. Two examples, and other Renault cars, were used to drive VIPs, before being sold. They had a specific color (Gardenia White) and interior, but used the standard engine and technical specifications. The A610 Magny-Cours was created for the Williams-Renault Formula One victory in the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours in July 1991. 31 cars were built, with specific color and interior. They carry a "Magny-Cours" legend on the doors and have body-colored rims. The A610 did not result in an improvement in sales over the commercially disappointing GTA and the car was discontinued in 1995, despite acclaim from the motoring press, and approval from the British car show Top Gear. The A610 was to be the last car to carry the Alpine name until the 2017 release of the new Alpine A110. After production of the A610 ended, the Alpine factory in Dieppe produced the Renault Spider. 818 were built, 67 of which were right-hand-drive. Sales the first two years were acceptable, but from 1993 until production ended in 1995 a mere 80 cars were built. In Jeremy Clarkson’s 2007 direct to DVD film ‘Supercar Showdown’, the production infamously destroyed a particularly rare right-hand-drive example of the A610, by driving it into a concrete K-rail.