France has given the world many things, with the list of achievements including cheeses that smell like crime scenes, revolutionary politics, and—perhaps most important—jokes about the French. Here’s something else that might be worthy of the list of significant Gallic accomplishments: a thinly disguised look at the new Alpine sports car, set to be launched in Europe next year.

Alpine, not to be confused with BMW-fettlers Alpina, has long been a subsidiary of Renault. The company stopped making sports cars in 1995, and since then its former factory in Dieppe has become the base for the Renault Sport division. The new Alpine model clearly is intended to be a return to the brand’s glory days, with styling resembling the 1960s and ’70s A110 sports car that was rallied with considerable success. The longer-term plan is also to make Alpine a brand in its own right within the Renault-Nissan hierarchy, with a range of models (likely to include at least one crossover) and the tantalizing prospect that its products will eventually get to cross the Atlantic.

This isn’t a production car—its official title is the Alpine Vision—but the word from inside Renault is that about 80 percent of what you see here will make it to the final version when it goes on sale in 2017. Details have been kept deliberately light, with the official release containing precisely three facts: It will be capable of accelerating from zero to 62 mph in less than 4.5 seconds, it will be lightweight, and it will have a four-cylinder turbocharged engine.

Fortunately we can add a fair bit to that, based on previous conversations with senior Renault execs. The engine—which we've confirmed to be mounted in the middle of the car—is likely to be a development of the 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine used in the Clio Renault Sport 200 and also in the Nissan Juke NISMO, boosted to deliver between 250 and 300 horsepower. We know that the only transmission option will be a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic from the corporate parts bin, as the French seem to have sadly given up on manual transmissions. Finally, although the weight likely will be around 2400 pounds, this will be accomplished without extensive use of expensive composites, meaning it won’t follow the Alfa Romeo 4C’s lead in using a carbon-fiber structure. The concept also has a spiffy digital instrument cluster (similar to that of the Audi TT), which we can also expect to make production.

Development began as part of a joint venture with British sports-car maker Caterham, but Renault took sole control in 2014; Caterham now is working on a similar project of its own. There’s no confirmation on pricing, but reports in the British media suggest it will be in direct competition with the Porsche 718 Boxster/Cayman and the Alfa Romeo 4C. And also, intriguingly, that North American sales are part of the ultimate plan for the brand, a point reinforced by the official release’s claim that sales in Europe will be “followed by other markets worldwide.” Here’s hoping that includes the U.S. and Canada—and not just Mexico, where Alpine parent Renault already peddles some cars.

MARC URBANO, THE MANUFACTURER

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