2019 Alpine A110 launches in Australia

The lauded 2019 Alpine A110 has made it Down Under with 32 of the initial batch of 60 Australian Premiere Editions already spoken for.

Given the A110 made its first appearance at Motorclassica, most buyers have put pen to paper sight unseen. The $106,500 Australian Premiere Edition is a limited run for 2018 only, while 100 of the $97,000 Pure and $103,500 Legende editions are slated for 2019.

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Brighton Alpine in Melbourne is currently the only dealership you can buy an A110, but Alpine Australia’s Managing Director, Andrew Moore, says another is in the pipeline.

“We’re selling all around the country from Melbourne. We want to make the experience very special so we offer the opportunity to customers to fly them to Melbourne and deliver the car so they can drive it back.”

A second Sydney dealership is planned and servicing will be carried out by a designated, authorised service outlet within each state.

Moore says the reasoning for Alpine receiving a green light in Australia is largely due to the local success of the Renault Megane RS.

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“We’re a very strong Megane RS country – we’re third globally with previous vehicles behind Germany and France. Based on what I’m aiming to achieve stock wise with Megane RS this year and into next year, there’s a chance we’ll be the number one market for Megane RS globally.

“So the sportscar heritage we have and the knowledge that Australian consumers love their sportscars, helped us push a little bit further,” Moore says.

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Unlike the Renault Megane RS with which the A110 shares some mechanicals, Moore believes that a manual transmission won’t join the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

“Because the A110 is such a unique car, Alpine wanted to focus its investment on the one transmission and have it absolutely done right.

“If you try and do everything, you don’t get anything 100 per cent right … Alpine has said that this is what the package is going to be and we’re going to make this one amazing.”

When asked what car Moore thinks is a direct rival for the A110, the answer was simply “Porsche Cayman”.

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“The interesting thing with the Cayman is that, to me, it’s the comparative car. But I believe we’ll get more customers who have considered a BMW, Mercedes or Audi, and are perhaps looking to move to Porsche in the future, who will choose this car… versus a traditional Porsche Cayman customer looking at the A110.

“The way this car is promoted is such that it’s a brand in its own right. I’d suggest most purchasers of the vehicle who don’t have a deep understanding of its heritage will not for a moment even consider it as a Renault. It’s an Alpine, you’re going to an Alpine dealership and it’ll be marketed solely as an Alpine.”

Demand for the A110 out of the Dieppe factory in France is so strong in Europe that the waiting list for around 6000 customers has ballooned to 12 months.