Many police agencies around the world have often adopted supercars in their fleets and now the French police are the latest ones to join the bandwagon. Unlike going for outright supercars like the Lamborghini Huracan, the French police have opted for something more local. It has ordered 26 Alpine A110 lightweight sports cars. Alpine of course is the sports car brand by French automotive major Renault which since 2021 runs its F1 team with the same brand.
The A110 is an iconic mid-engined sports car championed by legendary F1 car designer Gordon Murray and even Top Gear and Grand Tour star James May.
"Following a call for competition initiated in June 2021, the Ministry of the Interior will acquire rapid intervention vehicles for the National Gendarmerie. The Renault company won the contract with the Alpine A110 Pure model; this contract was notified on October 11, for four years. An order of 26 copies has been placed," said France's Ministry of Interior's press release.
It is a compact mid-engined sports car with a 1.8-litre turbocharged power plant
The A110s will be used by the National Gendarmerie which is the police force responsible for small towns and rural areas which have fewer than 20,000 inhabitants. The French ministry states that these cars will be utilised for the interception on motorways, involving cars driving at high speed as a part of the road safety or judicial police missions like drug trafficking.
The A110 has a 1.8-liter turbocharged engine making 245.5 bhp and has 320-newton-meters of torque. It makes up for the power deficit with its ultra-light construction. It starts at $68,000. Notably, Gordon Murray who designed the McLaren Honda F1 cars that Aryton Senna and Alain Prost won F1 world championships in and then went on to design the legendary McLaren F1, has stated that it is his day to day car.
