The Alpine A290 is set to kickstart the French firm's push into the mainstream market next year with an electric hot hatch based on the Renault 5.
Previewed here in ‘Beta’ concept form, it promises to be a more usable accompaniment to the widely-acclaimed – but highly impractical – A110, without compromising its sporting character.
Although the A290 Beta features an FIA-approved racing chassis and two motors mounted on the front axle, the production car will share the 5’s CMF-BEV platform. Renault has already touted the dynamic potential of the architecture, which mounts the battery pack under the car to lower its centre of mass and improve handling. It also features Independent multi-link suspension features at the rear.
Alpine has further fettled the platform to ensure it’s playful at low speeds and becomes more stable with acceleration. “The main thing is agility,” said design director Antony Villain. “And we know when we switched to EV, we have heavy batteries, but we want to find exactly the same driving philosophy: agility and pure pleasure.”
To this end, Alpine has added hydraulic bump-stops to the Renault 5’s suspension set-up, improving the A290’s ride and enhancing handling adjustability. Similarly, the torque vectoring on the production car’s single front motor has been set up to simulate a mechanical differential, boosting stability under braking and traction as you accelerate out of a corner.
The A290’s short wheelbase and wide track – the whole car measures 4.05m long and 1.85m across – make it inherently stable and agile, according to product boss Charlie Biardeau.
He added that A290 uses the same four-piston brakes as the A110, albeit tuned to blend naturally with the regeneration of the production car’s single front motor.
Biardeau explained Alpine is targeting a feeling of “transparency” through the brake pedal, with various strengths of regeneration. These may include a ‘one-pedal’ drive mode, maximising the motor braking so you can drive the car solely on the accelerator pedal – a boon in urban traffic jams.
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Autocar have reused a story page again, so there is a comment below from me, hoping the final car looks as good as the Autocar mock-up that is no longer pictured. The Beta version looks even better. I really hope the final version is this good looking.
It looks a cracker and will no doubt drive well, but the combination of high price and low range will confine it to being a plaything for the rich. Pity there isn't a combustion or hybrid engined version.
LP, the really hot hatches of the 80's were at the time 'playthings for the rich', they were above the reach of the average guy. This looks great from the pics, lets hope it drives as good. As for the price, seems reasonable to me.
Boris, I had a XR2 as did my mum and neighbour yet none of us were rich then, or now.
I drove an R5 turbo 1500 miles to Scotland and back as a youngster. It was a blast. I'd be happy to do the same in an Alpine EV if it's got a realistic 150 miles between charges
Light weight was the founding and guiding principle for Alpine. I get the challenges with EVs and their heavy batteries, but it's worrying they seem to be discarding this principle so easily.
Where are the engineers who will save us from ourselves? Reducing the weight (and therefore resource use) of future cars should be a priority.
And they're doing that within the current confines of EV tech. When batteries weigh next to nothing, then you'll see an ultra lightweight Alpine again.