France is a country better known for its hot hatches than its sports cars. It did give us Alpine, though, and Bugatti, right at the far end of the scale. And for a while in the 1990s, there was this: the Venturi Atlantique.

The Venturi name might be familiar if you follow the Formula E electric racing series, or have a card-counter’s memory for early 1990s F1 machinery. But in the 1980s and 1990s it also built a series of mid-engined sports cars that looked a cross between a Ferrari 355 and a Lotus Esprit.

Like the Lotus, it featured a fibreglass body and an engine placed behind the two seats. In the original Venturi that engine was the same 2.5-litre turbocharged Renault V6 used in its Alpine A610 rival, though the rear-engined Alpine had the powertrain flipped 180 degrees.

The car pictured here and offered for sale at £39,995 ($55,500) is a later Venturi Atlantique 300 built in 1998. The Atlantique was unveiled at the 1994 Paris Motor Show, updating Venturi’s sports car with softer 1990s curves that still look good today, though the interior design is definitely stuck in a pre-millennium time warp.

In addition to the new bodywork, the Atlantique also got more under-bonnet firepower in the shape of a 3.0-liter 24v Renault V6. Naturally aspirated cars made 210 bhp, but if you wanted the performance to match the looks, you had to step up to the 281 bhp Turbo, which was allegedly good for zero-60mph in 5.5 seconds and a 174 mph top speed.

And since this one has only done 37,000 miles there’s a good chance it could still get close to those figures today. Most of the cars built came with the steering wheel on the left. But this is a rare right-hand drive version sold new in the UK only a couple of years before Venturi went belly up.

In 2000 the company was bought by millionaire businessman Gildo Pallanca Pastor and switched its focus to electric motors. The weird two-seat Venturi Fetish EV of the early 2000s even predated Tesla’s original roadster. But now it, like the Atlantique, is a largely forgotten, which is a shame.

Who else would like to see an Alpine-style rise from the dead for this French Ferrari?

This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of
This Venturi Atlantique Is The French Ferrari You’ve Never Heard Of