Alpine A290_β previews French performance brand's sizzling electric hot hatch
Designers aimed for something 'not even remotely nostalgic or backward-looking'
Alpine has already won the hearts of driving enthusiasts with its lightweight A110, but even the niche French performance car maker isn’t immune to the march of electrification and last year showed off a concept for its plug-in version of the two-seat sportscar. Now Alpine is aiming to get the baseball cap-wearing enthusiasts excited with what looks to be a sizzlingly-quick pure-electric hot hatch.
The new Renault 5-based A290_β (pronounced “A290 beta”) show car, unveiled this afternoon, previews the A290’s debut in production form next year. It’s set to be the first in a new wave of battery-powered performance models, with a GT crossover and that pure-electric successor to the A110 due to follow.
In creating the A290_β, its designers turned to the company’s racing heritage. The four X-shaped lights on the front are a hat-tip to Alpine rally cars of the past with their lights taped up for competition use, and this design element will carry over to the 2024 production car.
There are plenty more interesting details dotted throughout the car, such as how the windscreen extends into the bonnet. Another detail is the atomic number of aluminium etched into the dashboard support frame.
Central driving position like F1
In addition, the red line running down the centre of the car ties in with the A290_β’s central driving position, with that seat flanked by two rearward-set passenger seats — a layout utilised by the McLaren F1 supercar.
For practical reasons the production version of the battery-powered hot hatch won’t have this when it goes on sale (paying at toll booths and collecting tickets as you enter car parks is a nightmare); such a set-up was employed just for the show car to link into the company’s racing pedigree.
Alpine of course has a single-seat Formula One car and endurance racers, and later this year the firm will compete in the famous Pikes Peak hillclimb.
The squared-off steering wheel features simple controls plus an ‘OV’ button that delivers a 10-second power boost for overtaking — a function that will carry over to the showroom model.
Meanwhile, the carbon fibre seats are designed to hold the driving firmly in place during high-speed cornering, with multi-point harnesses for the full-on racing car feel.
F1 driver names and aero included
Look into the inserts around the front bumper and you’ll see the names of Ocon and Gasly — Alpine’s F1 drivers — etched into the light bar.
Raphael Linari, Alpine’s chief designer, said: “We created something completely geared for the future. We wanted up-to-the-minute surfaces, details and materials, a vehicle that fulfils every Alpine promise, that’s exciting, surprising, and not even remotely nostalgic or backward-looking.”
The show car is inspired not just by motor sport but also the Alps. The white colour is reminiscent of snow, according to Linari, while the triangle shaped graphics are an “evocation of the mountains” as well as street art style.
Aerodynamics play a notable role in the design of the A290_β, and expertise was brought in from the F1 team’s aerodynamicists and powertrain specialists to enhance and improve the car. Air channels through and around the car to help with cooling and the aerodynamics.
Retro alloy wheels and colour scheme
The 20in wheels are a real throwback to the 1970s in a square design with white, blue and black detailing.
Alpine’s design director, Antony Villain, told Driving.co.uk that these will make it into production in a 19in size and that the A290_β represents 85 per cent of the finished car.
It will switch from a three-door bodyshell seen here to a more practical five-door that will be just under four metres in length, serving as a competitor for the Abarth 500e and Mini Electric.
Other details, such as using blue-tinted forged carbon in the bumpers, sills and wheel arches will be too costly for a production car, but the look could be replicated as Alpine wants to lean into its signature colour palette of white and blue.
Up to 250 miles of range
Alpine will base the hot hatch on the same underpinnings as the next Renault 5, and will have a single motor working on the front wheels, though the production model won’t have the same motor as the Renault 5, we were told… though it’ll be something from the Renault Group (the Megane E-Tech, perhaps?). The show car adds an extra electric motor up front for punchier performance. Alpine is keeping all performance figures under its hat for now.
Battery information is more easily guessed, though: it’s likely to use a battery with a 52kWh capacity that’s good for a 250-mile driving range, and rapid charging it from 10 to 80 per cent should take around 30 minutes.
Importantly, Alpine has had input into the Renault platform design from the start, so its engineers have been able to incorporate its hardware and set-up plans more easily.
The current A290_β name will become just A290 when the car goes on sale, using a nomenclature that will feature throughout all future models, whereby the ‘lifestyle’ models will use ‘90’ in their name and pure sports cars will use ‘10’.
The preceding number dictates the car’s size and place in the range.
Related articles
- After reading about the new Alpine A290 hot hatch, you may want to read Will Dron’s review of the track-focused Alpine A110 R
- Or read about the engineer behind the legendary Metro 6R4’s new plan to launch an electric sports car with a ‘Frogeye’ Sprite bodyshell
- Alpine E-ternité concept previews future electric sports car
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