► A290β is first look at Alpine EV hatch
► Based off forthcoming Renault 5 EV
► Production car will launch in 2024
Alpine has confirmed that its all-electric hot hatch, the A290, will make its official debut on 13 June 2024 – ahead of the long weekend of Le Mans 2024.
The news comes as the car’s prototype testing ramps up. The A290 has begun testing in the Arctic before its full reveal later this year. As you’d expect, the testing right now is more about agility and powertrain performance in sub-zero temperatures. As CAR has highlighted in the past, EV technology can suffer in colder conditions.
‘The target of this important stage is to confirm the direction we have taken with handling and agility, which is part of our DNA on low grip conditions,’ said Philippe Krief, Alpine CEO. ‘To fine-tune its development so that it can be effective in all circumstances and all-weather conditions, the winter development stage of the A290 is crucial as it is a completely new car. Our engineering team has scrutinised all the criteria, and the results bode extremely well for its launch in the coming months.’
In addition to the handling and powertrain performance, Alpine’s engineers also tested more mundane functions such as the heating functions as well as the quality of defogging and defrosting systems.
What else do we know?
Light camouflage means it’s possible to see the same aggressive front and rear bumpers and bodywork that sets the Alpine apart from the slightly more docile Renault. Even the wheels appear to be the same style as shown on the concept.
There are two key differences though: as you’d expect the production hot hatch moves towards a more conventional seating layout – replacing the centred driver seat – but it also introduces a pair of rear doors. An addition most likely done for practicality and cost-saving, they don’t seem to distract from the sporty nature of the forthcoming electric hatch.
Based on the concept
Based on the A290_β concept, which in turn is derived from Renault’s 5 EV concept, the production Alpine’s name has been confirmed as A290. Due for launch ahead of the less powerful Renault, it is the first of what Alpine says will be a seven-car EV line-up by 2030.
With a single front motor, it is front-wheel drive. And unlike the two-door concept, outlandishly kitted with a rollcage and centrally located driver’s seat, the A290 will have conventional seats and rear doors, judging from a camouflaged prototype we have seen. That rides on 19-inch wheels.
Alpine says the car’s dimensions are relatively compact. At 3990mm long, 1820mm wide and 1520mm high, with a wheelbase of 2530mm, it’s smaller than a Hyundai Ioniq 5 but bigger than a Honda E. It should weigh in at 1500kg, making it lighter than the Honda but heavier than the Abarth 500e.
Inside, expect a physical handbrake, sports seats and a squared-off steering wheel. The rear suspension is multi-link, the suspension non-adaptive, and driving modes switchable between comfort and dynamic, but no fake gearshifts. Alpine is currently putting the finishing touches to the torque management that will be crucial to its dynamic appeal, and tweaking the sound – which, we’re promised, will not mimic a combustion engine.
Roberto Bonetto, vice-president of Alpine Engineering, said: ‘Hydraulic and recovery braking should work in the most harmonious way, with sporty feel. This car is not designed to be a track car. Its playground will be twisty roads.’
It will be built at Renault’s Doaui factory alongside the Megane E-Tech. No price or performance figures have yet been announced.
If an electric hot hatch seems like a big leap from a two-seat lightweight sports car, Alpine counters that it’s in the same spirit as the A110, and benefits from a lot of the same motorsport expertise.
‘The bridge is sportivity, the same agile driving pleasure,’ said Bonetto. ‘A110 is testimony to what we want to achieve. We have put all of our knowledge into the 290.’
What’s next?
Next up from Alpine will be a ‘crossover GT’ codenamed DZ110, expected in 2025. Built at Alpine’s Dieppe factory along with the continuing A110, that will be available with two motors, an 89kWh battery and all-wheel drive.
And there will be an electric replacement for Alpine’s only current model, the A110. The idea of a sporty lightweight EV was demonstrated in 2022 by Alpine’s E-ternité version of the A110, using adapted Renault E-Tech electric components, but that prototype is not expected to form the basis of the production electric A110 later in the decade.
But before any of that, expect an announcement from Alpine on the Alpenglow concept revealed earlier this year as an eye-catching advertisement for design and engineering possibilities including combustion engines running on hydrogen.
Francois Champod, vehicles director of Alpine Racing, said: ‘This is real. We’re working on hydrogen internal combustion engines seriously. There is a version of this which is running.’
As Bonetto said, the plan for seven EVs is not an end in itself. The target is zero emissions. ‘That’s not necessarily EV. We are open to other solutions, maybe hydrogen.’
We’ve had a major preview of the A290_β concept car, so keep scrolling…
A290_β concept
Alpine has been working on a new range of pure-electric cars, and it’s no secret that a hot hatchback based off the forthcoming Renault 5 is part of that mix. Elsewhere, Alpine has already confirmed there will be a crossover SUV on the way, as well as an all-electric replacement for the A110.
The new electric hot hatch is the start of Alpine’s all-electric future, and it’s a pretty tasty place to start. ‘When it was first discussed, the immediate feeling was to do a real hot hatch,’ Antony Villain, Alpine’s head of design, tells CAR. ‘I think that’s something that’s missing right now, and something that French manufacturers are really good at. I think that’s the mindset we had like in our history: taking some great cars with a Renault background and really raising them as an Alpine with all of the know-how from our team today.’
A290β? That’s a weird name…
True, but there is logic to it. As well as revealing the show car, Alpine has confirmed its future nomenclature for all of its new models. Every car will start with an A followed by three numbers – that much we already know.
This new structure gets interesting with those three digits, though. The first number dictates the size of the vehicle, then the second two digits – either 10 or 90 – dictate whether the vehicle is a sports car or a ‘lifestyle’ car respectively.
The ‘β’ in the show car’s name stands for ‘beta test,’ linking the digital world and confirming that this is an early look at the production name: A290. The Alpine team want to make sure people know that this isn’t just some flight of fancy; Villain tells CAR the exterior is ‘pretty close’ to the production car that will arrive in 2024.
It definitely looks racy!
It’s clear there’s plenty of links to the Renault 5 EV due very soon, but Villain is keen to make sure it’s still recognisable as an Alpine. ‘It’s all about playing with those Alpine ingredients that have always been there; the four lamps, the wheels, the side sculptures – all of it is reminiscent of the 80s – and the way we create this Alpine identity,’ says Villain.
Given it’s a show car, Alpine has gone to town on the details and used some extreme materials. Carbonfibre is used liberally, with a blue-tinged forged carbon marked in the sills and lower valances. The massive concept car-spec wheels feature a design inspired by the A110 Légende, and there are functional air ducts in the C-pillars.
What about the interior?
This is where Alpine’s had some fun. While the exterior is meant to be almost what the production car will look like, Villain and his design team have let their hair down with the cockpit.
It’s a three-seater, with a central drivers seat and a Formula 1-inspired steering wheel. It’s clean and minimalist inside, with as many of the controls housed on that radical looking steering wheel, and the cocooning space is trimmed with machined metals bars of light accenting the sharp angles of the dashboard.
Villain says that motorsport link is deliberate, connecting the A290b to Alpine’s F1 team and shedding light on the fact that all of Alpine’s divisions (production cars and motorsports) are under one roof, unlike the supposedly disparate departments of the now-defunct RenaultSport. And, just to ram the point home, Villain points out that the production car’s steering wheel will benefit from the same ‘boost’ button the concept car features, marked with ‘OV’ for ‘overtake.’
What’ll power the production-spec Alpine A290?
Alpine’s kept powertrain details close to its chest for now, but we can predict some details.
CAR’s intel suggests that, as well as the new A290 running on Renault’s new CMF-BEV platform, the A290 is likely to feature more potent motors lifted from the Megane E-Tech and Nissan Ariya. Renault VP for engineering, Gilles Le Borgne, told CAR in 2022 that: ‘To build in the performance, I can put in the motor from the CMF-EV platform [which underpins the Megane E-Tech and Nissan Ariya]. That’s 160kW (215bhp), with a dedicated layout.’
As for battery size, the circa-52kWh pack is likely to stay the same size then Alpine takes advantage of Renault’s battery technology. ‘The [Alpine] battery will be almost the same [as the base Renault’s] but I have to increase the current, for performance, so it will be very similar but not identical,’ Le Borgne said, ‘Of course, this will have some compromise on range but that’s life!’
However, the A290β teases some potential performance upgrades beyond some more potent motors than the R5. Alpine says the show car features revised suspension and more potent brakes with four-piston Brembo calipers from the A110 applied. The ABS features 11 settings (for some reason) and there are three drive modes: Wet, Dry and Full.
When will the real Alpine A290 launch?
Alpine’s new battery-electric hot hatchback will launch in 2024.