We are a nation of badge snobs – Thank Frankel it’s Friday

But back in those dark Escort days we felt an immense sense of frustration, not that this was the best that Ford could so – and it really was shockingly bad – but that as night followed day it nevertheless marched straight to the front of the best-sellers list. It didn’t matter how much criticism it drew from the motoring press, and off-hand I can’t think of another product from a mainstream manufacturer that was kicked quite so hard or often, people blindly went out and bought them anyway.

Why? Because it was a different world back then. Think about how people gathered the information required to make an informed buying decision. They couldn’t read reviews on line because the internet was a decade away from becoming popularised. They could buy car magazines, but the chance of the actual car in which they were interested being featured in any given week or month was vanishingly small.

The far greater influence was the proximity of the nearest car dealership and as Ford had hundreds more than anyone else in the country at the time, people would be more likely to turn to the Blue Oval in the first instance than anyone else. And then they were in the hands of the marketing machine: the brochures, the coffee mornings, the friendly and familiar face of the dealer principal… Ford may been rubbish at building cars back then, but that scarcely mattered when it was so damn good as selling them. And if Ford sold one car, it would likely sell dozens to the same family for decades to come. In an era of often almost unquestioned customer loyalty, it was just too easy for them. No one ever got to drive anything else and realise just what they were missing.

But I always thought that we car journos would have more influence over the fate of cars aimed at proper drivers, rather than mass market tin box transport, and I think that, to an extent, we have. I think, for instance that much or even most of the stratospheric status now enjoyed by Porsche’s fabled GT cars is a result of what has been written about them in the specialist press. I’m even arrogant enough to think that in the probably quite unlikely event Porsche produced an absolute clunker of a GT3, our revelation of that fact would have an affect on its prospects in the marketplace.

Which is why when the Alpine A110 turned out to be such a great car, I was sure its success was a given. This wasn’t just a really good sports car, it was genuine game-changer, one that defied existing thinking by being not that fast either in a straight line or around a corner, but by thumbing its nose at such over-rated conventions and focussing purely on being brilliant to drive. We would lift it up to where it belonged into the pantheon of world class sports cars of all eras.

Except that’s not what actually happened. I think we did make a difference but, I fear, perhaps not sufficiently so. Because I read that the Dieppe factory in which it is built is now being earmarked for closure, and surely Renault won’t go to the expense of transferring elsewhere production of this ultra-low volume, highly specialised sports car with its bespoke aluminium construction.

To be clear, I’ve only seen one newspaper report, it may all be unfounded rumour and conjecture and the A110 safe for long into the future. I hope so. But even if it is, there’s no escaping that in the UK at least sales have not matched expectations, despite the fact we buy more of Renault’s hot hatches than any other nation on earth.

I fear the truth is that while there are a tiny number of people who buy cars purely for how they drive (which almost certainly includes all of you), the huge, sprawling majority of those who’d claim to enjoy driving don’t enjoy it anything like as much as they enjoy basking in the image of themselves they believe their cars project. And the more you spend, the more important this consideration becomes. To whit if you’re going to spend £50,000 on a recreational two seater, would you rather drive a car made by Renault with a funny name and a badge you have to explain to everyone, or would you rather drive a Porsche? This was precisely the problem that did for the wonderful Alpine A610 back in the days when Ford was selling rubbish Escorts, and it appears to be happening again.

It saddens me but I’ve said it before and doubtless I’ll say it again: we are a nation of badge snobs and, to an extent, a continent of them too. And if the days of the A110 are indeed numbered, it will be us who wrote its death warrant. All COVID-19 will have done is put the date on the top.

Show the A110 some love – watch our Alpine A110S video review!