AFTER an absence of more than 20 years one of France's most famous sports car brands is back in business.

Alpine, now part of the Renault Group, will be releasing a new coupe next year.

Harking back to the legendary Alpine 110 Berlinette, one of the sexiest looking cars of the 1960s and 70s and a significant player on the world rallye circuit, the new model will be built at the company's factory in Dieppe which currently produces Renault Sport models.

Announcing the return of Alpine, Carlos Ghosn, Renault chairman, unveiled the Alpine Vision show car on the famous Col de Turini just outside Monte Carlo.

"Earlier this month we announced our return to Formula One with a Renault team, and today we are announcing Alpine, " said Mr Ghosn. "This is an exciting next step in our strategy to leverage talent and technology between road and track, and we look forward to reaching new customers in the sport premium cars segment."

The Alpine Vision model is powered by a new four-cylinder turbo engine developed by Renault Sport which gives the car a sub-4.5 second 0 to 60 acceleration.

A production model is due to be revealed by the end of the year which Renault says will be very similar to the show car.

The Alpine 110, which won a series of rallyes including the Monte Carlo Rallye in 1973, was last produced in 1977 and Alpine ceased sports car production in 1995 with the A610.