Powered by Renault-built engines, the Alpine A110 was introduced as a successor to A108. The car reached international fame during the 1970–1972 seasons when it participated in the newly created International Championship for Manufacturers. It won several events in International Championship for Manufacturers around Europe and being considered one of the strongest rally cars of its time.
With Alpine being bought-out by Renault, and the International Championship was replaced by the World Rally Championship for 1973, at which time Renault elected to compete with the A110. With a team featuring Bernard Darniche, Jean-Pierre Nicolas and Jean-Luc Thérier as permanent drivers and "guest stars" like Jean-Claude Andruet the A110 won most races where the works team was entered, making Alpine the first World Rally Champion. Later competition-spec A110s received engines of up to 1.8 litres.