New electric Alpine A110 will be low, light in feel and faster than a Porsche

Alpine claims the electric successor to the A110 will be faster than a petrol-powered Porsche 718 Cayman around the Nürburgring race track – no mean feat given an EV drivetrain’s weight penalty versus a combustion car’s. 

The French sports car maker revealed its Nürburgring simulations at Renault Group’s strategy day, claiming its zero emissions coupe will have the beating of petrol-powered rivals – helped by its weight-saving aluminium architecture and clever torque management of its high-performance motors.

Today Alpine officially confirmed that the electric A110 will have two battery packs, to chase the ideal weight distribution and keep the roofline as low as today’s combustion A110’s. The primary powerpack will be sited behind the driver like the power unit in a classic mid-engined coupe, with a smaller pack set back in the nose. 

Alpine CEO Philippe Krief also doubled down on his statement that the future A110 could be petrol-powered too. "Yes, the platform is designed to accommodate internal combustion (ICE). That doesn't mean we will do it but we are ready for it. The most important thing is to offer an excellent product. People don't buy sports cars because they need them but because they want them. So we need to create something exceptional; it doesn't matter if it's EV or combustion." But Krieff did add that ICE would open up markets outside Europe. 

Alpine says the electric car will have a 40:60 front:rear weight distribution. It also confirmed that the A110 will be powered by a 3-in-1 e-axle, which will package dual in-wheel motors with a silicon carbide inverter, a crucial component which manages the motors’ performance delivery and regenerative ability, and is critical for thermal management. The result is “exceptional torque and performance with ultrafast control,” claims Alpine.  

In addition Alpine Active Torque Vectoring will manage power to each rear wheel, altering torque loads left and right every 10 milliseconds to deliver the best blend of performance and traction. Insiders say this results in a car that can compete at the ‘Ring while feeling true to Alpine’s lightweight DNA, experienced from a low-slung seating position behind a vertical steering wheel.    

“The Alpine A110 is the foundation of our brand,” said Alpine CEO Philippe Krief. “Showcasing our commitment to delivering high-technology products, we will offer the first true EV sports car to the market. It will be true to Alpine’s DNA and outperform the best of today’s combustion sports cars, thanks to the Alpine Performance Platform.”

Electric A110: the story so far

Both Krief and former Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo – who has now left to head up the Kering fashion empire – have talked in depth to Auto Express about Alpine’s electric replacement for the A110 coupe, revealing a string of technical headlines. 

The electric coupe will ride on a dedicated sports car platform, has a target weight of 1,450kg (close to a Cayman GT4 RS’s), should travel more than 350 miles on a charge, and packs two in-wheel motors that generate “more than enough power – I can guarantee [it],” claimed ex-Ferrari director of engineering Krief.

Krief also revealed detailed plans to expand the new A110 range, first with an Alpine A110 Spyder soft-top roadster and then potentially with an all-wheel-drive variant, possibly using elements of the tri-motor powertrain developed for the A390 SUV. A 2+2-seater should also follow. 

The A110 will be the cornerstone of the Renault Group’s attempt to take Alpine’s track pedigree – racing in Formula 1 and the World Endurance Championship – and turn the brand into a thriving, seven-model premium car maker at the cutting edge of new technology. It’s critical, therefore, that the low-slung A390 electric SUV is a success, to start generating the cash the company will need to invest in its ambitious product plan. 

Before leaving, De Meo’s vision was to create France’s answer to Porsche. “[The A110] is our iconic product, the Porsche 911 of Alpine,” he said. Coincidentally the first A110 coupe – powered by an in-line Renault four-cylinder engine – made its debut in 1963, the same year the 911 was born.

While more details of the electric A110 are emerging now, we expect the full unveiling to happen later in the year – probably at the Paris Motor Show in October. It will be on sale early in 2027 with the A110 Spyder likely to follow in 2028. The A110 will then be joined by the larger Alpine A310, a 2+2 coupe and convertible using the same platform that will be a more direct rival for the Porsche 911. 

If you can’t wait for the new, all-electric Alpine A110, check out our Find a Car service. There you’ll be able to find great deals on a new Alpine A110 or top offers on a used Alpine A110 model. Alternatively, we also also have a wide variety of competitive leasing deals.

What else we know about the electric A110

While the Alpine A390 rides on a painstakingly overhauled version of Renault Group’s AmpR-Medium architecture, the coupe will be the brand’s first model on the Alpine Performance Platform (APP). 

“Irrationally, we decided to invest in a very modular sports car platform that will underpin the next-generation A110,” explained de Meo. “The APP is the core of [Alpine]. The priority is to take that platform and develop three or four models, then we'll see what happens.” 

De Meo told Auto Express that APP is a dedicated sports car platform, made from extruded aluminium sections. It will be manufactured in the Dieppe factory, where workers are used to crafting the lightweight alloy. 

The material is critical for paring back weight. “We think we can do an electric car that is lighter than a comparable combustion-engine car,” added de Meo. “That will change everything. We’ve invested in the electronic engine architecture, putting the engines in the wheel, [which] lowers the car’s centre of gravity.”

The A110 will finesse the in-wheel motor technology powering the Frankenstein’s monster version of the Renault 5, the Turbo 3E. Alpine’s engineers have converted this outrageous, £135,000 superhatch to rear-wheel drive, with rotors attached to the wheels to spin them. That negates the need for reduction gears and half-shafts, saving weight, and gives huge opportunity to manage torque delivery to individual wheels. While the Turbo 3E will be a drift machine, the new A110 will be set up to carve through corners. 

“There will be two motors [on the rear],” says Philippe Krief. “We’ll also have an all-wheel-drive version with two [rear] and one different [front motor] – smaller, lighter.” 

And how much combined power will there be, in excess of 500 horsepower? “A lot!” he says. “And we are thinking of evolution also (to give a range of outputs and models). There will be enough power, I can guarantee!”

The motors will be fed by “very high energy density” batteries and an 800-volt electrical architecture, boosting charging capability and enabling thinner wiring and componentry to again reduce weight.

“In terms of motors, you optimise them. Integrate all the functions – motor, transmission, inverter, the DC/DC charger – everything in one box. Then in terms of vehicle integration, you fight for every millimeter you can reduce, every kilo on each single part. I'm not saying that it's easy!” vows Krief.

“The weight target of the new A110 is below the best combustion car, a Porsche [718 Cayman],” he confirms. “[It’s] 1.45 [tonnes] to be precise.” Today’s entry-level A110 is extremely petite, stretching to just 4,181mm long and weighing 1,102kg. That means a relatively modest 249bhp four-cylinder engine can fire the coupe from standstill to 62mph in 4.5 seconds.

Porsche has pumped billions into electric replacements for the Cayman and Boxster, but their launch date is unconfirmed due to the German sport car maker’s current financial woes. 

Batteries, range and driving dynamics

Krief admits the electric coupe will have a slightly bigger frame, but positioning the batteries will be key to keeping the coupe’s height below 1.3 metres – comparable with the current car’s roofline. “We cannot put the battery in the floor because the car will be too high,” Krief tells Auto Express. “So we will put the battery elsewhere and we’ve found some really nice battery installation.

“A big stack is [cost] efficient and if I put my battery in two packs, it will be less [cost] efficient. But you definitely could do more than one installation. This is something we can afford because we don't want to trade off on the project: the new A110 has to be a real A110.”

One stack will be placed behind the rear seats in the classic mid-engined position, with the in-wheel motor design freeing up some space. More cells are located up front but behind the axle line: packaging them in the floor like most EVs threatens the promised low roofline. Weight distribution will dictate the positioning: the A390 five-seat ‘fastback’ has a 49:51 front:rear bias, although its single battery pack lies in the floor. 

Krief reckons the electric A110 should be good for a range of 600km (373 miles) – customers won’t accept the “easy” trade-off of a small battery compromising usability. And he believes the switch to electric, with its precise tunability and instant response, will make for an agile-feeling sports car.

“If you give the car a sense of the benefit of [being] electric – quickness in steering and responding, quickness in braking, quickness in recovering from understeer, oversteer – then you have the [lightweight] feeling. In this, electric has a huge advantage, because in terms of response an electric machine is 10 times faster than [a mechanical one].”

Alpine is also experimenting with a sound symposer on the A390, with lower, bassier frequencies in Sport than in regular Daily mode. The soundtrack is generated in real time, based on throttle position, motor speed and other variables, and this thinking is sure to influence the A110 driving experience.

Design

The electric A110 will be true to its forebears in being instantly recognisable, in the same way Porsche design nurtures the 911’s look. “For premium brands, you need a certain consistency, a family feeling,” said former group CEO de Meo. “There will always be some fixed points that are characteristic of Alpine so that you can recognise the products from 200 metres away.”

The new A390 fastback displays the common threads of Alpine design, says group vice president Laurens van den Acker. “You have a pointed front end, with Alpine written in the front and the double-headlight signature. You have the body side line that drops down and the very nice rear window.” Shaped like a helmet’s vizor, it unites the A110 and A390. “But we want to give every car its personality,” van den Acker tells us.

“The A110 will be replaced. If you want the pure DNA of the brand, it’s always available in the A110: it’s the roots on which we’re growing a tree. The A110 will be very recognisable, but in terms of proportions and surfacing, it will evolve – for the better I’d say.”

The APP sports car platform allows for bigger wheels to boost the stance. “And it’s versatile because you cannot make money with one sports car. Because it's extruded aluminum, it’s relatively easy to change the wheel base or width. And that helps pull different vehicles off it,” says the design director. 

Alpine’s bold model plan: A110 and beyond

Alpine boss Krief says that APP will underpin the two-seat coupe and a roadster version, plus the 2+2-seater A310 models. He revealed to Auto Express that the platform is able to accommodate hybrid powertrains as well as an all-wheel drive EV setup and is leaving options open should Alpine need to respond to market demand in the future.  

Beyond that, there is a clear desire within Alpine to follow up on the A110 R Ultime, which is based on the current A110. This high performance track-focused edition could be the blueprint for future special series versions of the new A110 that would rival Porsche’s GT range.  

It’s an ambitious plan, which should eventually add a 1,000bhp hybrid supercar and potentially a bigger SUV on top, if Alpine eventually decides to attack the US market. But why will it work, given that French car makers have typically failed to crack the premium market? 

Luca de Meo believed the electric transition is a great leveller. “More or less, we are on a par with the others. Everybody's learning, everybody's investing in battery technology and e-motors. It’s not that we have a 100-year gap to close so maybe it’s an opportunity for us.

“In the first generation, electric cars have been, in the main, appliances like washing machines – kind of ugly and unemotional. Maybe we can prove that electric car technology can actually be fun, that we can put in a soul. Alpine’s original position was doing more with less, the use of materials, of lightness instead of a big thing with big batteries. That’s the window I see again.”

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