Iconic sports car brand reveals its very first SUV with focus on ‘light handling' and ‘daily usability'

Scottish Sun

3 days ago

It's set to rival the Porsche Macan and Cupra Tavascan
FRENCH CONNECTION Iconic sports car brand reveals its very first SUV with focus on 'light handling' and 'daily usability'
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ICONIC sports car brand Alpine is set to rival the Porsche Macan with its very first performance SUV - called the A390.
The French marque - part of the Renault Group - already has two cars in its line-up, the highly-acclaimed A110 sports car and the stunning A290 hot hatchback that's modelled on the new Renault 5.
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Alpine reveals the aggressive-looking, all-electric A390 SUV, set to rival the Porsche Macan
Credit: Renault
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A driver-focused cabin features a portrait-oriented touchscreen, physical controls, and race-inspired adjustment dials - including a red overtake lever
Credit: Renault
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The A390 boasts a tri-motor powertrain delivering up to 464bhp - while boasting surprising agility and performance
Credit: Renault
Now, they're adding a third; an aggressive-looking, all-electric SUV to pit them against the electric Macan Electric and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N.
Described as a crossover-coupe, the A390 will start at around £60,000 - with UK orders to open in November.
Much like the A290, Alpine is seemingly attempting to further broaden its product range with the A390, as SUVs continue to be Europe's most popular type of car.
Essentially giving the people what they want - a luxury SUV that combines class, power and everyday usability.
Size-wise, the A390 matches the Tesla Model Y and Cupra Tavascan - with dimensions of 4.6m long by 1.5m tall - but boasts a corking 464bhp, making it more geared towards the performance SUV range.
What's more, using a bespoke tri-motor powertrain, with two at the rear and one at the front, it will feature rear-biased all-wheel drive and torque vectoring to help with agility and responsiveness.
Indeed, the tri-motor powertrain is capable of overspeeding the outside wheels in a bend, rather than simply braking the inside wheels, which Alpine says gives a 'much smoother, delicate feeling of control.'
Krief told Autocar: 'You can generate a quite immediate response time. It's like the behaviour of a light car.'
Inside, it comes with a portrait-oriented touchscreen angled towards the driver, as well as physical controls on the steering wheel and centre console.
Like the A290, it has a race-inspired adjustment dial on the steering wheel for the brake regen and the so-called overtake lever that gives the car full-power for short periods - somewhat giving drivers the gimmick of F1's DRS-tech.
Alpine A290 GTS delivers a hot hatch EV that comes with F1-style 'overtake button'
And for those not keen on the silence of an electric motor, it comes with the option of a synthetic 'Alpine drive sound' inspired by the A110's four-cylinder petrol engine.
The standard GT model produces 395bhp, with the 464bhp coming from the top-of-the-range GTS - which hits 0-62mph in 3.9 seconds.
For some context, that matches the ultra-light, stripped-out A110 R.
The A390 is the second of seven electric cars that Alpine plans to launch, with an electric successor to the A110 next in the pipeline.
Then, there's the A310 coming after, said to be a four-door fastback to rival the Polestar 4.