New Alpine A110 R Ultime is a £276k swansong with 345bhp

Alpine has revealed an extreme new special edition of the A110 with 345bhp and a top-end price tag of nearly £300,000.

Called the A110 R Ultime, the final edition of the French performance brand's halo sports car is one of the most expensive four-cylinder cars of all time.

That price far exceeds the £90,000 for the A110 R on which it's based, at £209,000, and then there's the possibility to add another £70,000 in personalisation options.

The R Ultime has made its debut at the Paris motor show, alongside the A290 hot hatch and A390 SUV - both due on sale in 2025 as the first of seven new Alpine EVs due by 2030. 

The A390 will be built at Alpine's factory in Dieppe, France (which currently builds the A110) from late next year. Work has already begun to adapt the line, but production of the A110 continues. 

The A110 isn't compliant with the EU's new GSR2 safety standards, which means Alpine can sell no more than 1500 units in the region per year.

Limited to 110 units, the R Ultime is the most powerful version yet, with its turbocharged 2.0-litre four-pot boosted by 49bhp over the R to give straight-line performance on a par with the BMW M2.

With torque also increased to 310lb ft and a new launch-control function installed, the 1120kg A110 R Ultime gets from 0-62mph in just 3.8sec.

It also has a new gearbox to cope with the increased torque, a bespoke turbocharger, an Akrapovič titanium exhaust, Öhlins adjustable dampers at all four corners and a high-performance braking system from AP Racing. 

The bespoke aero package, meanwhile, is said to boost downforce by 160kg at top speed compared with the R. Together with sticky new Michelin PS2 Cup tyres, this means the Ultime is "ever more agile on corner entry, cornering and acceleration". 

It is, Alpine said, a "genuine road-legal circuit car", having been tested at the Nürburgring by Alpine Formula 1 driver Esteban Ocon. 

Included in the lofty price tag is the possibility for each of the 110 owners to highly personalise their R Ultime inside and out, with a wide range of paint and upholstery colours on offer through Alpine's Atelier programme.

The car on show in Paris is a one-of-15 La Bleue edition, hand-painted in a combination of Vision Blue and Abysse Blue and upholstered to match, as "an exclusive illustration of the possibilities the Atelier Sur-Mesure Alpine offers". 

Priced at the equivalent of £276,000, it's the most expensive car yet sold by the Renault Group - and the second most expensive car currently built in France, behind the Bugatti Chiron.