Alpine, Renault’s French performance sub brand, has expanded into the hot hatch sector with the A290 and the sporty SUV market with the A390. Now it’s returning to its roots with an all-electric A110 sports car and this, a new ‘special project’ called the Alpine PS1. Nope, that’s not a gaming console from the 1990s, Alpine says PS1 stands for ‘Projet Spécial 1’. A concept car due to be revealed at the Paris Motor Show this month, the PS1 sits in Alpine’s ‘special projects pillar’, which is separate from the volume production ‘Icons’ pillar spearheaded by the Alpine A110. Details on the PS1 remain sketchy, but Alpine has issued a teaser image of the concept along with its unveil date of 12 October. The picture shows-off the PS1’s razor-thin headlight design, with the distinctive tricolor of France embedded in the light signature. The nose of the car looks low to the ground with the body appearing especially sleek as a result, though Alpine says this will be the sole clue before the curtain officially rises on day one of the Paris Motor Show. We expect the PS1 will sit on the same APP platform as the upcoming electric Alpine A110, which will also be on display in Paris in its most recent sculpture form. APP (Alpine Performance Platform) is a highly versatile architecture that can cater to hybridised combustion engines, though the PS1 is expected to be a full-EV. If the PS1 does point towards some exclusive, limited edition, special project destined for the road, it wouldn’t be the first such car in recent years from Alpine. The £267,000 A110 R Ultime, which coincidentally arrived at 2024’s Paris Motor Show, marked a sensational high-point for the outgoing A110. Since then, Alpine CEO Philippe Krief has been vocal on his belief that Alpine could mirror Porsche, with the likes of the A110 rivaling the Cayman and the new four-seat A310 taking on the 911. Krief previously spoke to us about the possibility of more special project cars from the brand; “Like we did in the Ultime; we added more power, we changed the gearbox, changed the chassis completely, the aerodynamics. These could be electric cars, could be ICE, could be hybrid. There’s a huge opportunity once you get a new platform and a branch of powertrains.” Known internally as ‘Exclusive’ models within Alpine, special series models like the PS1 could give Alpine with an entry into the high-end performance car and supercar market, albeit in small numbers.
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