Like the original model, the current generation Alpine A110 has joined the French Gendarmerie. Of dharma military Police have ordered 26 small, lightweight coupes that will be modified to help law enforcement officers catch motorists with serious speed needs.
Government officials explain that they chose the classic coupe because it’s fast and agile, despite the fact that the Gendarmerie has used Renault-branded cars for speeding activities. high certainly doesn’t affect Alpine’s chances. Alpine will build police car on the same assembly line Dieppe, France, produced the civilian variant of the A110 (and that was the original model from 1963 to 1977). However, the 26 units will be stopped by a French export unit called Durisotti before being deployed on French roads.
There, they will receive the necessary modifications for law enforcement duties. Some of the changes made include Gendarmerie-specific graphics on the body panels, additional lights, sirens, a second touchscreen mounted to the dashboard, and a monitor mounted behind the rear window. show instructions (e.g. “follow us”). It doesn’t sound like any mechanical modifications, which means power comes from a mid-mounted 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine tuned to develop 252 hp and 252 lb-ft of torque. 236 pound-feet. It turns the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission (no manual transmission). Getting to 60 mph from a stop takes about 4.3 seconds, and the top speed of the 2,500-pound coupe is electronically limited to 155 mph – thankfully, a lot of new performance cars also.
Renault also offers a 292 hp version of the turbo-four, it comes standard on A110 WILL, but the Gendarmerie settled for less powerful engines. We guess that’s because the performance gain isn’t as impressive as it sounds. The S is only about a tenth of a second faster at 60 mph, a nearly imperceptible difference in real-world conditions, and its top speed is still pegged at 155 mph.
It seems that none of the 26 curated examples will lead to a boring life. A number will be assigned to brigade rapide d’intervention (BRI; high-speed intervention brigade) has the task of arresting motorists who exceed the allowed speed. We’re not talking about exceeding five on a country road; we mean 150 mph between Salon-de-Provence and Lyon. Others will participate in various missions related to traffic or public safety (such as they might end up in a high-speed chase), and two missions will be devoted to digging. create new officers assigned to the BRI.
Alpine has already started building 26 cars and deliveries will begin in early 2022. If you’re visiting France next year, don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Blue in blue
France’s gendarmerie has a long history of using Renault (and related to Renault) models to catch speeders and criminals. Pictured above, the original A110 was one of BRI’s first patrol cars; it roamed the roads of France in the blue starting in 1966. It passed the torch to the A310, its expected successor, in 1973. Then the Gendarmerie bought a bunch Renault cars including 18 Turbo, 21 Turbo and Megane IDE. The set’s current fleet includes several examples of the Mégane RS, a hot hatch with up to 300 hp.
However, Renault has no monopoly on BRI orders. The list of previously used cars of the set also includes the Matra Djet (which has since been replaced by the A110), the Citroën SM supplied by Maserati, Peugeot 405 T16 and more recently Subaru WRX.
