Alpine was an independent Dieppe-based company founded in 1955 that specialised in competition cars and sporting road cars built largely from Renault components. The A110 had won the 1973 Monte Carlo Rally and the inaugural World Rally Championship, but it was too focused and lightweight to sell in significant volume as a grand tourer. Rédélé sought a second model with broader appeal capable of competing with the Porsche 911, a car then dominating the premium sports car market.
Although Gordini and Renault were developing V8 and V6 engines, the A310 launched in 1971 with a rear-mounted tuned 17TS/Gordini four-cylinder engine producing 127 PS through twin Weber 45 DCOE carburettors. The car was first shown at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show.
The A310's structure followed Alpine tradition: a tubular steel backbone chassis clothed in a fibreglass shell moulded as a single piece. The engine was mounted longitudinally in the rear, driving forward through a five-speed manual gearbox. Six headlights distinguished the early A310 visually. The driving position was low and sporty, though the front wheelwells encroached on occupant footspace.
Construction was highly labour-intensive, with each car taking approximately 130 hours to complete. Components were drawn from across the Renault parts bin — the steering rack came from the Peugeot 504, while the turn signals were Simca 1301 units. In 1974 the front axle balljoint mountings were replaced with rubber and steel bushings to improve durability.
Being larger and heavier than the A110 without a meaningful power advantage, the four-cylinder A310 was widely considered underpowered relative to the chassis's potential, and sales proved disappointing. To address flagging sales in 1976, Alpine offered a lower-cost A310 SX variant using a 95 PS version of the Renault 16/17's 1,647 cc inline-four.
In 1976 the A310 received a major transformation. Restyled by Robert Opron and fitted with the newly developed 90-degree 2,664 cc PRV V6 engine — shared with certain Renault, Volvo, and Peugeot models — the A310 V6 produced 150 PS and was capable of 220 km/h. The tail-heavy weight distribution gave handling characteristics comparable to the contemporary Porsche 911. A black plastic rear spoiler was added to manage aerodynamic lift, though it somewhat compromised the purity of the original design.
Sales more than doubled compared to the four-cylinder car, with 781 examples sold in France alone in 1979, the V6's best year. However the car continued without significant development updates sufficient to make it a serious Porsche competitor, and sales tapered off again through the early 1980s.
From 1981 the rear suspension was shared with the mid-engined Renault 5 Turbo, and the wheel specification was updated to use the same alloys as the 5 Turbo. For 1983 and 1984 a "Pack GT" option was offered, inspired by Group 4 competition cars and featuring extended wheelarches and larger front and rear spoilers. A small run of approximately 27 Pack GT Kit Boulogne cars was built with the PRV V6 bored out to 2.9 litres and fitted with triple Weber 42DCNF carburettors, raising power to 193 PS.
In 1973 the A310 was designated as the planned replacement for the A110 in the World Rally Championship, but the Lancia Stratos made this programme largely irrelevant at the top level. The A310 did achieve significant success in French national rallying as a Group 4 car. Guy Fréquelin won the French Rally Championship in 1977 driving an Alpine Renault A310 V6. The car was later moved to the Group B rally stage in 1983.
Total production of the A310 amounted to 11,616 cars over the model's thirteen-year production run, comprising both four-cylinder and V6 variants. The model was discontinued in 1984 with no direct replacement, as Alpine concentrated on the A310's eventual successor, the Alpine GTA.
The A310 occupies a complex place in Alpine's history. It arrived as a logical step-up from the A110's competition-focused purity toward a more usable grand touring proposition, but never fully achieved the commercial or competitive dominance Rédélé had envisioned against Porsche. The V6 version nonetheless established Alpine as a credible manufacturer of performance cars beyond the rally-specific A110, and the Dieppe factory's continued existence through this period ultimately allowed Alpine to survive under Renault ownership into later decades. A second generation of the A310 was announced by Alpine in February 2025, intended to enter production in 2027 or 2028.