Renault teases new Alpine A120 ahead of February reveal

Renault teases new Alpine A120

A single image from the Twitter account of Alpine today teases the arrival of what we expect will be the Alpine A120 on 16 February 2016.

As teases go, the one for the new Alpine A120 is as uninformative as any we’ve seen, just a date – 16 February 2016 – for its reveal and an image of Alps and sky.

In fact, we’re not even sure Renault will use the A120 badge on the Alpine – there has been speculation it will be the Alpine AS1 – but as a spiritual successor to the Alpine A110 there’s much sense in the A120 moniker.

But whatever it’s called, the new car is expected to bear significant resemblance to the Alpine Celebration Concept we saw at Le Mans last year (and at Goodwood) as Renault sought to demonstrate clean air between the Alpine and the ill-fated collaboration with Caterham and the A11o-50 Concept from 2012.

The Celebration Concept had lots of design cues honouring Alpine’s history, including retro alloys, a contoured bonnet and headlights that look like they came from the old A110 Berlinetta, and much of this could seep through in to the production A120.

Renault hasn’t said what will power the new Alpine, but the clever money seems to be on a modified version of the 1.6 litre unit in the Clio RS, but upped to 1.8 litres and delivering up to 300bhp in the range-topping version, with a dual-clutch automatic gearbox sending power to the rear wheels. The A120 is also expected to weigh in at around 1100kg.

With a reveal due on 16 February – and a debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March – all should soon become clear.