Some cars make you reach for the specifications.
This one makes us want to clear a space in the garage.
Alpine’s A310 Vision is a wonderful bit of wishful thinking. Low nose. Broad shoulders. A cabin that looks slipped between the wheels rather than perched above them. It makes a convincing case for stopping whatever you were doing and having another look.
That, surely, is a useful starting point for a sports car.
Unveiled at the Paris Motor Show, it takes its inspiration from the original A310, introduced in 1971. Alpine’s designers kept one in the studio while working on the new concept. The early four-cylinder cars and the broader, more muscular V6 versions both informed the result.
You can see the family resemblance. You can also see that somebody was allowed to enjoy themselves.
The dimensions explain some of the drama: 4.55 metres long, 2.03 metres wide at its broadest point and only 1.18 metres high. This is a very low, very wide object. The sort of car you imagine lowering yourself into, rather than climbing aboard.
Look past the silhouette and the details keep rewarding you. Triangular wheels pick up Alpine’s “A”. Aluminium bodywork sits above a dark lower section with a Formula One influence. The cabin is enclosed by a semi-transparent canopy.
There are headlights that pop down, a sculpted air channel in the bonnet and a split rear wing. From behind, the broad stance looks almost theatrical. From the side, the car seems drawn around its wheels.
It is easy to imagine a dozen of these details being softened before a showroom launch. It is harder to imagine improving the overall effect by making it taller.
Inside, Alpine describes sculptural seats, strong blocks of colour and physical controls inspired by hi-fi equipment. The cockpit is deliberately suggestive rather than a finished production interior. We like the thought of a sports car with something satisfying to turn or press.
Now for the awkward bit.
Alpine explicitly calls the A310 Vision a one-off design study. It is not announcing a production A310. There is no customer power, battery, range or acceleration specification in the release. Nor does it announce an Australian launch.
The connection to something real is the Alpine Performance Platform, or APP, being developed for the brand’s future sports cars. Alpine says the architecture can accommodate different body styles and powertrains.
At the same Paris show, a separate sculpture previewed the next A110, due at the end of 2027. That is the future model programme. The A310 Vision explores what the designers might do with the possibilities around it.
We should keep those two things separate. A striking concept does not become an order book because we would like it to.
But there is a reason to give this car some space.
Electric sports cars need to offer something you can fall for before the acceleration demonstration starts. A shape you look back at. A driving position that makes an ordinary trip feel like an occasion. Some anticipation before you have even opened the door.
We have not driven the A310 Vision. We cannot tell you whether the experience would match the photograph.
We would very much like the chance to find out.
So yes, Alpine, we understand the design-study explanation.
Please build it anyway.
Photos: Alpine / © Karen FAURIE/DPPI. Concept vehicle shown.