Why the Porsche 911 should be wary of this Alpine A310

After the very successful “new” Alpine A110, it will soon be time in France to target the Porsche 911 with a real A310.

You can confidently call the Porsche 911 the king of German sports cars. However, you have to be careful, because competition from the Alpine A310 will come. The new A310 is part of a true model offensive from Alpine. By 2030, no fewer than seven electric models are expected to enrich the automotive world. These are not just sports cars, but, as we are used to from Alpine, also sporty variants of “normal” Renaults.

Alpine A310 is a star player

The Alpine A290, the new wide turbo-like variant of the retro electric Renault 5, will debut next year. The A290 is the hot hatch variant of the Renault 5.

Just like the Alpine before, but now with the cool body kit of the wide 5 from back then. But there’s more to come. So a year later we can expect a C-segment crossover GT. And Alpine’s current star player, the A110, will extend its lifespan as a fully electric car at the end of 2026.

From niche to global brand

The A110 E uses a new APP architecture (Alpine Performance Platform). This is of course scalable and will be used for what Alpine is promoting as a groundbreaking roadster based on the A110. Thirdly, the new A310, a four-seat coupe, will also use the same base.

Two new D and E segment cars will complete the seven. “Our goal is to transform a niche Alpine brand into a complete global brand,” explained CEO Laurent Rossi, who designed the strategy of the new Alpine together with Luca de Meo, CEO of the Renault Group.

Smart and light

This strategy is based on the legendary sports car brand. The French sports car brand, like the British Lotus, gained name and fame by producing intelligent, lightweight sports cars with very good chassis. This also led to a wonderful track record in the motorsport world.

The A110 made a career primarily as a rally car. This was later followed by the larger A310, which conquered the circuit mainly as a Group 4 racing car, but also won the French Rally Championship.

Porsche has to be careful

Even back then, the Porsche 911 was an important rival. It is difficult to predict whether the new electric versions of both icons will ever compete in motorsport. If they want to maintain their brand reputation with Porsche and Alpine, that seems wise, but not a given in these different times.

And that’s exactly why the 911 has to be careful of the new Alpine, because even well-known brands with top reputations have to fight for their position again in this era.