Alpine had to go electric, but refuses to be boring

Auto Express

2 days ago

Alpine's decision to devote itself to electric cars hasn't pleased some of its most passionate fans or lovers of the phenomenal, petrol-powered A110 sports cars. However bosses tell us it was really the only way forward for the performance brand, which is working on ways to twist the laws of physics and drivers' emotions. Advertisement - Article continues below
Speaking to Auto Express, Alpine design director Antony Villain explained: 'If we want to stay on ICE engine, to get the right engine with the right performance compared with super famous competitors, it will take years to catch up and will be super expensive. And at the same time, sports cars with an ICE engine in France, for instance, there's a €60,000 malus (government tax).
'With the price of the car plus malus, basically Porsche today doesn't sell any [sports cars] in France anymore. So we are doing the market; I think we have 98 percent of [the two-door coupe] market [in France].'
Villain acknowledges that EV demand has been slowing, which has resulted in rivals Lotus having to shoehorn a new 'hyper-hybrid' powertrains into its cars. Porsche is also working on a new SUV featuring combustion and hybrid engines, to sit alongside the Macan Electric. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below
But Alpine is showing no signs of wavering from its commitment to launch a pure-electric line-up of seven diverse models by the end of the decade. The only outlier will be the road-going version of the Alpenglow hypercar, which is getting a hybrid V6 powertrain.
One key benefit of going electric, Villain points out, is: 'it's like a reset of know-how and everybody's coming back on the same basis, so we have much more opportunities to be competitive and to stay true [what Alpine is]. Advertisement - Article continues below
'Since the beginning, Alpine has not been an engine provider. Its sports cars made out of the best combination of existing engine and existing components, but cooked in a very different way, and I think we're staying true to this philosophy, and we think we can deliver an even better experience than the [current] A110.'
A bold promise, but remember the boss of Alpine is Philippe Krief, who before taking the reigns in 2023 was responsible for the chassis of the astonishing Ferrari 458 Speciale, and was head of R&D at Maranello when Ferrari SF90 and 296 GTB plug-in hybrid supercars were born. In between all that, he also led the development of the Alfa Romeo Guilia and Stelvio.
The new Alpine A390 offers proof that the company is trying to preserve its core principles. Despite being a spacious, five-seat 'Sport Fastback', based on the same platform as the Renault Scenic family SUV, underneath is a bespoke triple-motor set-up that delivers up to 464bhp and 808Nm of torque, plus 0-62mph in 3.9 seconds. But while it accelerates as hard as an A110 R, VP of product performance Sovany Ang knows that's 'not enough to make this car feel like an Alpine. It's really the agility, the lightness, that we're looking for.' Advertisement - Article continues below Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below
Alpine is using lots of trickery to try and deliver this, but the most significant development is an active torque vectoring system that takes full advantage of the A390 having two e-motors on the rear axle and the one up front. The SF90 and 296 Krief masterminded use similar technology, and Ang promises it allows the 2.1-tonne head-turner to 'pivot around curves and be very stable in straight lines,' while also making it feel much lighter than it actually is.
The next-generation A110, which will be electric and is going to be unveiled in October 2026, will also employ torque vectoring. But Alpine has gone several steps further than that, creating its own bonded-aluminium platform and developing innovative in-wheel electric motors that will drive the rear wheels. But perhaps most importantly, we've been promised the car is going to weigh less than 1,500kg – not a featherweight by traditional standards, about the same hefty as the Lotus Emira or a Porsche Cayman GT4 RS.
The same architecture, technology and presumably the same in-wheel motors, will be used by the Alpine A310 coming later. Another model pulled from the brand's back catalogue, the new A310 will be a four-seat sports coupe, making it a direct rival, and zero-emissions alternative, to the almighty Porsche 911. Advertisement - Article continues below Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below
Of course, if you don't fancy an electric sports car, the current petrol-powered A110 is still available through our Find a Car service from around £55,000, with a dozen new models in stock around the UK, plus some used models too. Alternatively, there's the Alpine A290 hot hatch which is available to lease from just £315 per month .
Ang tell us Alpine had a simple choice to make: 'we could have decided 'okay the [sports car/two-door coupe] segment is dead and we're not doing an A110 anymore, but we don't want that! We want the A110 to be durable and to continue to be the next icon in 70 years, and for that we have to play with what the technology on hand is today and the best way to achieve this kind of performance is the electric playground.'
But once again, Alpine's focus with the electric A110 is not heartstopping acceleration. 'We're bringing soul and sensuality,' says Villain, 'it's not a cold machine.'
Ang elaborated, 'from a performance point of view, there's no doubt electric is better. But from a sensuality point of view or your senses, we need to work so that we deliver probably not exactly the same [experience] as ICE cars, but new [experiences] that trigger those emotions that make us love sports cars.'
As well as technology, this is a new era for Alpine design. Villain explained, while today's A110 that was relaunched the brand in 2017 was 'a bridge to the past', now 'we are entering in a new era and we have to project the brand in the future.'
The Alpenglow hypercar concept established Alpine's new form language, which maintains the DNA of the brand's past models and still features some styling elements – like the four lights on the front, seen on both the concept, the A110 and A390 – but 'the way we sculpt the surface is much more modern, sharper.'
'There is a little weakness in the A110 styling-wise, which is that people appreciate it because it's cute. But some people don't buy it because it's cute. And that's a problem. So especially in the UK and Germany, we are missing a bit of assertiveness, aggressiveness, and sometimes the froggy aspect of the A110. We saw that and so we're trying to make a sharper design, but still keeping the sensuality.'
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