After what seems like a century, the long-awaited and highly anticipated Alpine sports car is one step closer to becoming a reality. Renault has finally managed to bring the Alpine brand back with what looks like a winner in the form of the Alpine Vision Concept. The concept was revealed at an event in Monte Carlo ahead of its world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show next month. The mid-engined two-seat sports car is proof that the automaker is extremely close to coming out with a production version, which is said to debut later this year.

Alpine aims to have the production-spec sports cars in European dealerships by 2017, which will be followed by global sales. We've seen Alpine's concepts before, but this sports car is better looking and looks like it's ready for production. The final name has not been confirmed yet, but Alpine may be planning to call it the AS1 or AS110. Regardless of what it may be called, the only thing that really matters is how the sports car drives. Alpine is keeping the majority of the concept's technical specs to itself, but has released that the production car will utilize a turbocharged four-cylinder engine mounted right behind the driver. The four-cylinder engine is rumored to be similar to the Renault Clio RS' 1.6-liter turbocharged motor.

Alpine has released that a production version of the sports car will be able to get to 62 mph in less than 4.5 seconds, which would make it quicker than the Porsche Cayman GTS and Alfa Romeo 4C. The exterior design of the Vision Concept looks familiar to that of the Alpine Celebration Concept, which itself pays homage to the iconic Alpines from the 1960s and '70s. It's been a long time since Alpine has released a production car and we hope the automaker doesn't mess this up. Alpine Managing Director Michael van der Sande believes that the sports car will put the brand back into the limelight.

"All of us at Alpine are proud to have been entrusted with the task of bringing back Alpine to sports car lovers around the world," stated Sande. "Our job is to faithfully re-interpret famous Alpines of the past and project Alpine into the future with a beautifully designed, agile, high-performance sports car. Our Alpine Vision show car is immediately recognizable as an Alpine yet resolutely modern. We look forward to revealing the production model later this year."