Renault spent $30,000,000 making Alpine GTA Turbo legal in the US but then backtracked and only built 12

Renault once spent $30,00,000 making its Alpine GTA Turbo legal in the US.

But then it later backtracked and only built 12 of them.

It is one of the most under-told stories of the car industry in the 1980s.

And yet it is also one of the most fascinating.

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Renault puts together fascinating US project

Picturing a rare French sports car usually conjures up certain images.

From Bugatti to old-school hot hatchbacks, there is pretty much something for everyone to adore.

Of course, brands such as Bugatti build very, very limited numbers of cars.

What most people don’t realise, though, is that there is something even rarer.

And it was actually a product of the 1980s.

Enter the famous French brand – Renault.

More specifically, enter Renault’s Alpine division.

Back in the 1980s, the Renault sub-division produced the Alpine GTA Turbo.

It was a distinctly French spin on the iconic Porsche 911 formula.

But what makes the Alpine GTA Turbo so special and unique?

For one thing, it was only built in very limited numbers from 1984 to 1991.

For the US market, that limited number ended up being just 12.

Alpine GTA Turbo ends before it gets to begin

Back in 1987, Automobile Magazine reported something fascinating.

It turned out that Alpine spent more than $30,000,000 making the GTA Turbo US-legal.

When you consider that only 12 were made, that works out at about $2,500,000 per car.

So what changes were made that cost such an enormous amount of money?

To meet American safety and emissions standards, each car received a series of mandated updates.

Whilst these were necessary, they didn’t exactly help the performance.

Emissions equipment knocked off 20hp, as well as 10lb-ft of torque.

US crash standards meant the addition of pop-up headlights and hefty bumpers.

Other various measures included ABS, air conditioning, and enhanced cooling systems.

But what fate befell the US-exported Alpine GTA Turbo?

In the same year that the project was finalized, Chrysler acquired Renault’s American partner.

And that signalled the death knell for the Alpine GTA Turbo.

Chrysler already had its own US-focused project – theChrysler TC by Maserati.

With that, the case for an expensive French export quickly fell apart.

Thankfully, a few examples of the Alpine GTA Turbo still exist.

It represents a fascinating, yet widely unknown, story of the 1980s car industry.