Its name: the A290_β. This concept car unveiled this Tuesday night heralds Alpine’s first 100% electric model, to be called the A290 (without the beta version associated with the showcar version). A compact and sporty B-segment car, designed by the teams of Antony Villain, the brand’s design director.
“In this car we find Alpine’s racing and sporting DNA. The wheels are big, a lot of work has been done on the aerodynamics, the interior, the steering wheel and the handling,” Antony Villain explains to BFM Business.
“We mix all that with codes of urban culture. This vehicle is very graphic, with its black and white cutouts, its light effects and sparkles”, adds the designer.
Conquering new segments
In fact, the new Alpine looks furiously like the future Renault R5. The two cars will also be produced in Douai, in the Electricity division of the Renault group. Alpine currently offers only one car for sale in addition to motor racing models: the A110.
“It’s our iconic vehicle, at the heart of our DNA,” said Sovany Ang, Alpine’s director of product performance. Above all, the A290_β concept inaugurates a whole range of new vehicles.
“We are in the process of opening up to new segments, with the desire to reach new customers and in particular the new generation”, he specifies.
In addition to the A290, Alpine will soon introduce a 100% electric crossover. The brand will also present a new generation of Alpine, also 100% electric. Therefore, it will soon have three electric models in its range, called “Dream Garage”. The subsidiary of the Renault group does not hide its ambitions and wants to exploit its volumes. Today, Alpine sells about 3,500 cars a year. The goal is to reach 150,000 vehicles in 2030.
Push beyond Europe
And for that, we have to target new territories. “Now we are very focused on the French market,” acknowledges Sovany Ang, before developing: “with the deployment of our new range, we are starting a second phase that will go through volume growth in Europe but not only. We have bases in Japan with the A110, we will continue in this direction and push, for the third time, beyond Europe.
Alpine is therefore looking towards the United States – the brand has just signed a partnership with dealer AutoNation – or even towards China. The brand is not completely closing the door, in a few years, to an IPO.
Source: BFM TV
