The Alpine A110 SportsX Is The Best Lifestyle Vehicle Ever Built

A word of warning: if you read on, you’ll be left feeling utterly conflicted about Alpine. On the one hand, the Renault-owned brand has just built the A110 SportsX - a vision of sports car excellence that laughs in the face of ‘lifestyle’ crossovers. But on the other, we’re told it’s merely a “styling exercise” which “is not available for sale”. What an awful tease.

It pays homage to various rally versions of the original A110, with the 1973 Monte Carlo Rally-winning example used as the main inspiration. Using the A110 Pure as a starting point, the Sports X has been given an 80mm wider body and an increase in ride height to give an additional 60mm of ground clearance.

Technical details are scarce, so we’re left to assume the 247bhp 1.8-litre inline-four turbo engine has been left alone. We can, however, see that it’s sporting a lovely new ski rack - perfect for your next road trip to the Alps. It’s one of the few things to be added, as the car “remains faithful to Alpine’s DNA: lightness and agility for driving pleasure,” the brand says.

If you fancy going to give it a longing look in the metal, the Alpine A110 SportsX is on display alongside an A110 S from 29 January at the International Automobile Festival in Paris.