French sports car brand reveals its Porsche Macan challenger, with THREE motors
New SUV will arrive in the UK next year with focus on drive engagement
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Alpine is going up against the Porsche Macan Electric and Hyundai Ioniq 5 N with its first SUV, the A390.
The French performance brand's third model line – joining the A110 coupé and A290 hot hatch – is a sleek, striking crossover-coupé that remains largely true to the A390 Beta concept revealed at the Paris motor show last year.
Due to start from around £60,000 when UK orders open in November, the A390 will play a significant role in broadening the market reach of Alpine's product portfolio. Its dimensions place it right at the heart of Europe's most popular car class and it has a more overt focus on daily usability than the brand's dedicated sports cars.
It measures 4.6m long by 1.5m tall and has a 532-litre boot, which makes it a close match for the likes of the Cupra Tavascan and Tesla Model Y. But with up to 464bhp and a drivetrain that has been engineered with a rigid focus on driver engagement, the A390 is pitched more directly at the dedicated performance SUV segment.
The A390 shares its basic Ampr Medium architecture with the Renault Scenic and Nissan Ariya. However, it uses a bespoke tri-motor powertrain – two at the rear and one at the front – to give rear-biased all-wheel drive and torque vectoring to boost agility and responsiveness.
Alpine CEO Philippe Krief recently told Autocar that this arrangement will play a key role in instilling the A390 with a 'perceived lightness' that helps to mitigate the inherent weight penalty associated with an electric SUV.
'You can generate a quite immediate response time. It's like the behaviour of a light car,' said Krief of the tri-motor powertrain, which is capable of overspeeding the outside wheels in a bend, rather than simply braking the inside wheels. Alpine says this gives a 'much smoother, delicate feeling of control', while also allowing for easily controllable powerslides.
Producing 395bhp in standard GT guise and 464bhp in the top-rung, circa-£70k GTS – and with a peak torque output of 596lb ft – this powertrain can send the A390 from 0-62mph in as little as 3.9sec. That matches the stripped-out A110 R, which weighs around a tonne less.
A cheaper variant with a more conventional dual-motor arrangement is understood to be on the cards, but it has not yet been officially given the green light.
The A390 is powered by an 89kWh battery that enables a maximum WLTP range of 342 miles and can be rapid-charged at speeds of up to 190kW.
Inside, the A390 is more closely related to its Renault Group siblings, with a portrait-oriented touchscreen angled towards the driver and a host of physical controls on the steering wheel and centre console.
It follows the A290 in gaining a race-inspired adjustment dial on the steering wheel for the brake regen and an overtake lever that liberates the full-power reserves for short periods.
Unlike the Ioniq 5 N, the A390 does not feature a simulated gearbox, but it does offer the option of a synthetic 'Alpine drive sound', which is said to be inspired by the A110's four-cylinder petrol engine.
The A390 is the second of seven electric cars that Alpine plans to launch in the coming years. Due next is an electric successor to the A110, which will be offered as a coupé and a cabriolet. After that, the brand will reveal the A310, a four-door fastback to rival the Polestar 4.
Two larger E-segment models – including a Porsche Cayenne competitor – were set to arrive after the A310 as part of the brand's push into the US market. However, president Donald Trump's new car import tariffs have prompted Alpine to put its Stateside ambitions on ice and it remains to be seen whether those cars will see the light of day.
Today's A110, launched in 2017 as the first Alpine model in more than three decades, will be withdrawn from sale next year.
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