Renault Alpine: first official details

We’re rather looking forward to Alpine’s upcoming Porsche Cayman fighter. More so now that we know it’ll do huge, silly, irrelevant skids on a wet surface.

Yup, a teaser video has been released showcasing the Alpine’s talents on a closed circuit; three of them, in fact, each wearing blue camouflage and with different alloy wheels.

So the loooong wait for the finished car – scheduled to hit our shores next year – isn’t entirely over, but we’re getting closer. You can now order a special ‘Premiere Edition’ version limited to 1,955 cars – yours for a €2000 deposit, payable through a new app.

We already know the new Alpine sports car will feature a turbocharged four cylinder engine. Reckon on around 250bhp from the production car – more of course, for the hardcore models – a kerbweight of just 1,100kg, and a 0-62mph time of less than 4.5s, according to Renault.

“Weight saving and agility are valued over pure power,” assures Alpine. Which is good. We’re even promised a chassis that’ll offer up a “playful personality”; playful in the sideways sense, not playful in the puppy-accidentally-biting-off-your-hand sense.

Prices? The Premiere Edition will set you back “between €55,000 and €60,000" (£46k to £50k) according to Alpine’s new micro site. For the standard model, something hovering around £40k is likely, putting it squarely in the sights of that pesky 718 Cayman. Inside though, you’ll see where your money’s been spent: there promises to be lots of aluminium and carbon, TFT instrumentation and “sensuous and technical” quilted leather seats.

First deliveries of the Premier Edition will hit the UK and Japan in late 2017/early 2018, with the rest of Europe having to wait until later on in 2018.

Watch this space for more as we get it…