The 7 best French cars to buy in 2023
The automotive world we know today owes a great deal to the French. It’s home to some of the world’s most well-known car brands, the world’s most prestigious endurance race, and the French have been behind many technological and product innovations, though not all of them rip-roaring successes.
Some swings and misses aside, the French way of doing things has won fans world over. So it's certainly encouraging to see that many French brands are currently in fine form. Many of them are launching new, ambitious cars again after a relative period of playing it safe, while mainstream marques are reviving that oft-mentioned creative spark of the French industry’s golden age for the all-electric era. Here we celebrate the unique appeal of the latest crop of French cars and highlight some of our particular favourites.
Alpine A110 R
When Renault revived the Alpine A110 with its stunning retro-futuristic looks in 2017, it had sportscar enthusiasts on strings. Here was a new, lightweight French sportscar built to take on the best Porsche could offer. And much like the ever-growing list of more hardcore sub-variants the German maker now offers for its myriad models, the A110 is spreading its wings too. The A110 R is the new, stripped-out, track-bred version of the A110 format that has worked wonders on the road. True to Alpine’s ethos for lightweight appeal, power from the turbocharged 1.8-litre engine driving the rear axle remains at 300PS (220kW), but with more aggressive aero, less sound proofing and ultimately less weight – 34kg less than the A110 S – it is the ultimate incarnation of what the marque stands for.
Peugeot 508 Sport Engineered
After a long period in the doldrums, Peugeot is once again on a roll with its range of smartly designed and sharp-handling cars. It carries the SUV thing off better than most, its latest 208 is the classic French supermini with a modern twist and it’s even building a hybrid hypercar to compete at Le Mans. On the road, the brand’s most exciting ware is the Peugeot Sport Engineered version of the 508. Its 360PS (265kW) petrol-electric powertrain delivers both blistering performance and CO2 and mpg figures to make a company fleet manager smile. It would remain a bold choice among the sea of Audis and BMWs driven by your colleagues but the already striking looks are improved further with the performance trimmings.
Bugatti W16 Mistral
It won’t be on roads until 2024, but you’ll certainly see and hear a lot about the Bugatti W16 Mistral next year, given the special status this car will hold in the annals of all things Bugatti. It will be the final car to use the all-conquering, quad-turbocharged 8.0-litre W16 engine used since the Veyron arrived in 2005 and single-handedly hauled hypercars into a new era. The Mistral uses what Bugatti calls the “definitive” version of this engine, producing a staggering 1,600PS (1,177kW). It’s at the heart of an open-top roadster that still uses the Chiron platform, but that familiar technical basis is cloaked in bodywork that is entirely new. Bugatti says that the Mistral’s design is inspired by the 1934 Type 57 Roadster Grand Raid, but interpreted as a “modern-day work of art.” Only 99 will be made, priced from €5 million. Unsurprisingly, they’re all sold.
Citroën Ami
Ok, technically the Citroën Ami is not a car, it’s a quadricycle. But it’s also one of the most interesting things for sale on four wheels, given its radical approach to design and a back-to-basics ethos that’s bang on brand for Citroën. The Ami’s cheap-but-cheerful approach includes the clever use of repeated bodywork. It looks the same at the front as it does at the rear, the chunky C-pillar and the colour of the lights the only giveaway. Even the doors use the same press to save money, meaning they open ‘suicide-style’ for the driver but normally for the passenger. A dinky car, it comes with a dinky electric powertrain too, just 8PS (6kW) mustered from the electric motor and a 5.5kWh battery pack providing a city-dweller friendly 46 miles of range.
Renault Zoe
The Zoe electric supermini has been something of a quiet revolution for Renault. It’s coming towards the end of its days, and though it is no longer Europe’s best-selling electric vehicle, it’s still a car of huge importance. The Zoe doesn’t break the mould in design terms but its role as a pioneer of electric mobility is arguably more relevant than the headline-grabbing antics of Tesla, even if the American company now occupies top-spot in the American market. Perhaps more importantly though, the Zoe is keeping the seat warm for Renault’s next small electric car – the hotly anticipated reborn Renault 5 – which will arrive in 2024 using an updated version of the Zoe’s platform.
Renault Megane E-Tech Electric
Eventually, many of the biggest selling badges on the road will be electric. But Renault is one of the very first manufacturers to commit one of its historic bread-winners to a battery-powered future. The Megane, formerly a combustion-powered family hatchback with a series of searing R.S models in its lineage, is now an all-electric crossover known as the Megane E-Tech Electric. With its striking, but compact design – it’s slightly shorter than the old Megane, despite the crossover makeover – and combination of an affordable small battery model with a longer-range version capable of 292 miles, it’s the latest development of an important voyage into electrification for Renault.
Jannarelly Design-1
Jannarelly the car brand may claim Dubai as its home but Jannarelly the man, his business partner Frederic Julliot and many of the other key players are French through and through and the firm’s head office is, literally, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. Anthony Jannarelly’s personal tastes in cars are very much rooted in Europe too, with Lotus, Caterham, Alpine and Donkervoort among those in his collection. With its lightweight build, classic looks and back to basics handling, the 325PS (239kW) Design-1 is designed with those cars in mind and intended more for blasting round tracks and over Alpine passes than social media attention-seeking among the supercar set. More raw than an Alpine, more rewarding to drive than a Bugatti, the Jannarelly proves the wild side to modern French car design.
List
Bugatti
Mistral
Alpine
A110
Jannarelly
Design-1
Peugeot
508
Renault
Zoe
Megane
Citroen
Ami
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