Alpine A110 EV Future is a goer: French battery-powered Porsche Boxster rival gears up for 2027 debut
Alpine has previewed the all-electric Alpine A110 Future that it will introduce next year and revealed it will be better to drive than the current combustion-powered coupe.
Emphasising the claim, Alpine unleashed a prototype version of its two-seat Alpine A110 up the famous hill climb at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The all-electric Porsche Cayman and Boxster rival has been confirmed as the first Alpine to sit on the car-maker’s all-new Alpine Performance Platform (APP) architecture.
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Completely unrelated to the A290 and A390 underpinnings, the prototype shown at Goodwood featured heavily modified body panels from the current A110 that had to be adapted to sit on the APP’s significantly stretched wheelbase and wider front and rear tracks.
To help achieve a low roofline and superior driving dynamics, Alpine confirmed at the British car festival that it will split the battery to achieve a 40:60 weight distribution.
The larger of the two battery packs will be stacked behind the driver and passenger, mirroring the current car’s mid-mounted engine.
The smaller pack will be mounted in the nose, allowing the driver to sit low in the chassis.
More pioneering technology will come in the form of a rear axle packaging dual in-wheel motors and a silicon carbide inverter that will deliver more precise torque vectoring, brake regeneration and thermal management.
The new hardware means torque distribution from left to right can be altered every 10 milliseconds, maximising traction and providing a “feeling of lightness” on par with the current A110.
Employing a mix of aluminium and composites, more than 95 per cent of the latest Alpine will be all new, with just 5 per cent of components carried over from the Renault Group.
That helps the A110 EV achieve a class-leading low kerb weight, with a target mass of 1450kg for the production coupe.
That weight, combined with an undisclosed battery, should ensure a range of more than 560km, or around 20 minutes flat-out on a race circuit.
Once launched, the hardtop A110 will be joined by a roadster, a 2+2 variant and a flagship triple-motor all-wheel-drive version that will deliver supercar-humbling levels of performance.
According to Alpine boss Philippe Krief, the new car will feature more futuristic styling than the current model but will “keep the family feeling of the A110”.
Inside, less parts sharing should ensure the Alpine feels a cut above the current A110, which has been criticised for raiding the Renault Group parts bin, with more bespoke features helping provide an “extreme sports car feel”.
Speaking to Autocar, Krief said: “The current A110 is an extraordinary sports car, but the cockpit is not that extraordinary. We’ve done huge, huge work in order to have a timeless cockpit – not one where you will find a lot of screens but something very intuitive, where the driver is at the centre.”
Owners will also be given greater scope to personalise their cars than ever before, matching what Porsche offers in a bid to boost the brand’s margins.
Senior sources at Alpine have also been careful not to rule out a traditional combustion version, with the versatile APP reportedly able to package a petrol engine and transmission that could see the Renault-owned sports car brand continue to offer an answer to the Porsche Boxster and Cayman should they remain combustion-powered.
Following its Goodwood dynamic debut, the production car’s full unveiling has been timed for a 2027 global launch.
The first generation of the modern Alpine A110 was sold in Australia from 2018 until 2021, when it was axed because it failed to meet local side-impact crash regulations after around 100 cars had been sold.
The brand’s return to Australia is now in doubt after the company pressed pause on the mid-size A390 SUV’s local launch, which was supposed to reboot the brand later this year.
Alpine’s return is now said to be “under study”, with no firm timing confirmed, although the French sports car maker has hinted it wants to increase global sales to around 15,000 vehicles, up from the 10,970 it sold last year. That could put renewed pressure on the brand’s revival in Australia.
