The history of the Renault Alpine A110 begins with the small Alpine Car Company, based in Dieppe, France. Producing small, lightweight, sports and rally cars, the company was the brainchild of Frenchman Jean Redele, a motorsport enthusiast and entrepreneur. The Alpine name first appeared on the rallying scene in the early 1960s, and Redele introduced the Alpine A100 model in 1963 - a small sporty rally car, which was made of fibreglass and featured Renault running gear, including their 1.0-litre engine.

As the engines increased in size, so did the A110's performance. Over its production run the A110 used Renault's 1.0, 1.1, 1.25, 1.3, 1.6 and ultimately the 1.8-litre engine. As the Renault influence grew, the name changed from the Alpine-Renault A110, to the Renault Alpine A110.

It was in rallying that the A110 achieved most of its success, claiming an astonishing 1-2-3 result in the 1971 Rally of Monte Carlo. The rally cars used the 1.6-litre engine, which combined performance with lightweight agility, making it perfect for asphalt, gravel and snow courses. Consequently, it went on to claim many victories, including, rather ironically, the 1968 Alpine Rally!

The road cars were very similar to their rallying counterparts, and had similar performance. The 1.6 was capable of 132 mph and produced 150 bhp. The cars featured a five-speed manual gearbox, and all-round disc brakes. The engine being mounted at the rear, with the radiator situated behind, lead to interesting handling. 8,203 A110s were built in its 15-year life span, in which it remained relatively unchanged. During its production run, Renault bought out Alpine, and the name would return on the Renault GTA Supercar of the 1990s.