Editing Automobiles Alpine (section)

=== 1970s ===
In 1971, Alpines finished first, second and fourth in the [[Monte Carlo rally]], using cars with engines derived from the [[Renault 16]]. In [[1973 World Rally Championship season|1973]], the newer A110 1800 finished first, second, third, and fifth<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ewrc-results.com/final.php?e=12745|title=eWRC-results.com - rally database|website=eWRC-results.com}}</ref> and went on to [[List of World Rally Championship Constructors' Champions|win]] the [[World Rally Championship]] outright, beating [[Porsche]], [[Lancia]] and [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/1973/|title=Season 1973 rally|website=eWRC-results.com}}</ref> During this time, production of the Alpine A110 increased and manufacturing deals were struck for A110s and A108s with factories in a number of other countries including Spain, Mexico, Brazil and Bulgaria.

With 1973 came the international petrol crisis, which had profound effects on many specialist car manufacturers worldwide. From a total Alpine production of 1421 in 1972, the numbers of cars sold dropped to 957 in 1974 and the company was bailed out via a takeover by Renault. Alpine's problems had been compounded by the need for them to develop a replacement for the A110, and launch the car alongside drastically increasing European petrol prices.

[[File:Alpine-renault-a110-berlinette.jpg|thumb|left|[[Alpine A110]] Berlinette Group 4 (1971–1974).]]
Through the 1970s, Alpine continued to campaign the A110, and later the [[Alpine A310]] replacement car. However, to compete with Alpine's success, other manufacturers developed increasingly special cars, notably the [[Lancia Stratos]] which was based closely on the A110's size and rear-engined concept, though incorporating a Ferrari engine. Alpine's own cars, still based on the 1962 design and using a surprising number of production parts, became increasingly uncompetitive. In [[1974 World Rally Championship season|1974]] Alpine built a series of factory racing [[Renault 17]] Gordinis (one driven by [[Jean-Luc Thérier]]) that won the [[Press on Regardless]] World Rally Championship round in Michigan, US.

Having achieved the rally championship, and with Renault money now fully behind them, Alpine had set their sights on a new target. The next aim was to win at [[Le Mans 24 Hours|Le Mans]]. Renault had also taken over the Gordini tuning firm and merged the two to form [[Renault Sport]]. A number of increasingly successful sports racing cars appeared, culminating in the 1978 Le Mans win with the [[Renault Alpine A442]]B. This was fitted with a turbo-charged engine; Alpine had been the first company to run in and win an international rally with a turbo car as far back as 1972, when Thérier took a specially modified A110 to victory on the ''Critérium des Cévennes''.

1971 also saw Alpine begin construction of open-wheel racing cars. Initially in [[Formula Three]], they were building [[Formula Two]] cars within a year as well.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.research-racing.de/AlpineRenault.htm |title=Alpine Renault elf Formula Cars |website=www.research-racing.de |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011230113834/http://www.research-racing.de/AlpineRenault.htm |archive-date=2001-12-30}}</ref> However, without a competitive Renault Formula Two engine available, the F2 cars could neither be known as Renaults nor Alpines while powered by Ford-Cosworth and BMW engines and were labelled Elf 2 and later Elf 2J. A Renault 2.0 litre engine arrived in time for [[Jean-Pierre Jabouille]] to win the [[European Formula 2 Championship]] in 1976. By this time, Alpine with Jabouille driving had built a [[Formula One]] car as a testing mule which lead directly to their entry into the Formula One World Championship in 1977. A second European Formula 2 championship followed with [[René Arnoux]] in 1977 with the customer Martini team, before Alpine sold the F2 operation to [[Willi Kauhsen]] to concentrate on the Le Mans and Formula One programs.