In a perfect world, the A110 Alpine never ended, the French maker's undeniably iconic berlinetta petite ruled the 70s rallying scene with its light fiberglass body and peppy 1600cc twincam four-cylinder, challenging the likes of Lancia's equally lethal Stratos HF. It took another 40 years to see both the marque and the car itself make a triumphant return into the automotive industry; mostly unchanged, albeit losing its compact charm. During the late 70s, Alpine were still out and about, despite not making anymore A110s. However, even with their boogie-era models A310, GTA, and A610 being vastly superior to their bubble cutie, they couldn't quite replicate the small coupe's undeniable winning qualities, instead having attributes closer to the grand tourers of Italian establishments; a far cry from Jean Redele's original vision of Alpine as an automotive brand. This problem led to a certain Michel Hommell, a French journalist famous for his local magazine "Échappement", to reimagine the Alpine essence in a fresh, modern 90s package. Still as spartan and still as driver-oriented as what the original A110 was during its heydays. His answer? The Hommell Berlinette.
A questionnaire he put up on his own magazine gave him an idea of what's to come. The question? Simple. "What would the French consider to be the ultimate sportscar?", or so it goes. The answers that conjured within that quiz all led to a specific car in the history of French sports cars; the Alpine A110, undoubtedly an icon in the French motorsport scene and a fan favorite among French motoring enthusiasts. Hommell envisioned a modern take of the Berlinetta classic; new design, new technology, yet ultimately the same spirit. Such was the Hommell Berlinette. Tagging along his editor-in-chief Gilles Dupré, and with him appointed as chief engineer of the project, a dream, or in this case an ambition was formed. When sketches were completed by lead designer Erick De Pauw, the car took on a rounded shape. With its bulbous fenders, a mix of a short rear overhang and a long front overhang, as well as a dome-shaped roof, you'd be forgiven if you think this was designed off a boiled egg, albeit moulded and re-formed into something that resembled more like a bastard child of a Lotus Elise and a Vauxhall VX220. Despite this, it was still a well-designed car. Measuring in at a width of 1.79 m, height of 1.16 m, and a length of 4.05 m, it was also quite compact, even if it was by no means similar to the original A110.
With the looming issue of budgeting constraints, several parts needed to be taken off various cars, mostly sourced from the PSA parts bin. The original Hommell Berlinette had the headlights off a Citroen XM placed under a glass housing, the rear units were also taken from another Citroen, albeit being a ZX this time. Its funky aeroturbine wheels and side mirrors robbed from a Peugeot SV24 605 and 405 respectively. 405 parts also come with its rear MacPherson struts and the Mi16's XU10 2.0 L 16-valve DOHC inline-4. Mounted at the rear to honor A110 origins, the chosen power plant produced 155 PS at 6500 RPM and 187 newton-meters of torque at 3500 RPM. The parts robbing ends here, as everything else was made one-off. The chassis for instance, was designed from the ground up using a tubular space frame design. The front suspension was a full double wishbone setup all round, also made without the help from any PSA parts bin. And the body panels themselves were moulded out of FRP for lightness. All in all, the car was distinctively small, and its polyester panels as well as its lightweight tubular construction helped shod a weight of only 980 kilograms. One aspect of the car in particular that made it stood out from the rest was its transmission. Handled by SMAN (Société Mécanique Automobile du Nord), who also manufactured transmissions for PSA cars, they were able to create a one-off short ratio 6-speed manual transmission made specifically for enthusiastic driving in the Berlinette, keeping in mind that this was offered before the arrival of the 306 6-speed transmissions.
Introduced in 1994, the Berlinette was as spartan of a sportscar as you could get. Its interior was extremely basic, nothing but the essentials. Radio and A/C weren't even an option! The doors needed a cable wire to open, just like how you'd find in an F40. Not to mention, it didn't have power steering and ABS amenities, nor did it even have sound proofing, which made for ineffective in-car small talks. The concept of a pure driver's car certainly was apparent, however, with a starting price of 250,000 francs (44,000 USD, ¥4,400,000 approx.), it did not faired well with the competition, did it technically had one. In comparison, a range topper Peugeot 405 T16 with its 2.0 L XU10 turbo, 4WD, and complete creature comforts (ABS, air-conditioning, power steering) would only set back 224,000 francs. A Renault Clio Williams, which by all means was a spartan enough hot hatchback already during its heydays, would have costed half of what the Berlinette was offering. With such a lack of comfort features, not to mention an extremely basic interior only a masochist would be comfortable with, it was difficult to find any interest in the Berlinette, but miraculously, it pushed through. About 10 orders were placed after its unveiling, and soon the numbers grew.
Around the same year, a barchetta/spider concept was conceived in the 1994 World Cup. Called the "Cabster", it was essentially a Hommell Berlinette variant of the Renault Sport Spider; no front windshield, no roof, and a rear roll bar for safety. The concept did not made it into production unfortunately, and instead the Sport Spider triumphed over the Cabster by being the more popular option. In 1997, a new "RS" model was introduced, now producing 167 PS and sporting a new, more original facelift. Gone were the store-robbed Citroen XM headlights and in was a quad headlight setup original to Hommell's design. The new facelift also brought about a decrease in price, about 228,000 francs, which puts it just above the old 405 T16. 2003 saw the final iteration of the car with the "RS2", now having 195 PS thanks to a revised Danielson tune for the XU10 engine. By this time, Hommell began realizing that his efforts of creating the car was starting to be in vain. With such exorbitant costs to manufacture and homologate the car, nevermind the running costs of its ex-dairy plant located in Lohéac, financial situations finally forced Hommell to close production of his Berlinette in the same year as the RS2 was announced. In total, 242 examples of Hommell Berlinettes were built, with 68 of them being the first generation "PSA Parts Bin Version", and most of them living very hard lives as competition cars.
Throughout the course of its production, the Hommell Berlinette has had a number of special editions, one of the most memorable was the Vaillante Grand Defi, a rebodied Berlinette which was a nod to French's number one comic racing driver, Michelle Vaillant. A Sbarro prototype design study was also created in 1997, featuring sharper lines and jagged edges reminiscent of early Dodge Vipers and Lamborghini Diablos. Fast forward a good 30 years after its release, and Hommell Berlinettes are a far cry from popularity, with only an extremely niche market accepting it when it was unveiled, and today being tossed around in very limited circles due to its extreme scarcity. In truth, time hasn't been kind to these French sportscars, especially of the 90s kind, what with the exceptionally rare appearances of Venturi Atlantiques or Alpine V6 Turbos from the common market, but it was interesting to know that during this period of wedge-shaped Renaults and funky Ferrari-lookalike Venturis, there was a man wild enough to create quite possibly a true spiritual successor of the original A110, the closest ever French sportscar that could match the ferocity, the spirit, and most importantly heritage of one of the greatest French cars to have ever graced in the world of motorsport.
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