You want to see it? Alpine is bringing the goods to this year’s Goodwood Festival of SPEED. Not the production model. A dynamic prototype called the A113 Future. It’s real. It’s moving up Lord March’s hill. All weekend long.
This is the new era for Alpine. Just like the old petrol A110 had a bespoke chassis. This electric one does too. The Alpine Performance Platform (APP). Not the standard Renault architecture used by the A290 or the A390. No. This is built specifically for a sports car.
The A110 Future isn’t pretty. Or maybe it is. It wears modified panels from the current petrol car. Stretched. Squished. Just to cover the different proportions of the battery packs underneath. The design won’t be the headline here. The engineering will.
Why build a new platform in 2024?
It’s expensive. It hurts the balance sheet. Big brands hesitate. Alpine doesn’t. Philippe Krief, the CEO, is betting on driving engagement. He thinks they can make a car more fun than the petrol version.
How? Two battery packs. One behind the driver. Classic mid-engined layout. Another smaller one in the nose.
Why two? Weight distribution. Keeping the roof low. The goal is 40:60 front to rear. Most EVs are nose-heavy. Not this one.
Krief is also vague on power. He says the platform can take an internal combustion engine. “People don’t buy sports cars because they need them,” he said. They want them. The platform is ready. Maybe ICE returns later. Especially for markets outside Europe that resist electric cars.
For now though. It’s electric.
In-Wheel Madness
The drivetrain is the wild part. A three-in-one e-axles. Dual motors in the rear wheels. Plus a silicon carbide inverter.
This tech came from the Turbo 3E drift car. The £135k monstrosity. Alpine engineers turned those rotors into a precision tool here.
Active Torque Vectoring manages power left and right every 10ms.
Is that fast enough for the Nürburgring? Insiders think so. You sit low. Behind a vertical wheel. Lightweight DNA remains intact.
“The electric machine is 10 times faster in response than a mechanical one.”
Krief isn’t kidding about power. He said “A lot.” He guaranteed “more than enough.” No horsepower figures yet. Just vibes and confidence.
The Numbers That Matter
Target weight: 1,450 kg. That’s close to a Porsche Cayman GT4 RS. The current A110 weighs 1,102 kg. This new one will be bigger. Longer. But they are fighting for every gram.
Extruded aluminium chassis. Built in Dieppe. Workers know alloy. De Meo left with a dream of France’s answer to Porsche. “The 911 of Alpine.” He wasn’t joking.
Range? 373 miles (600 km). Krief says customers won’t accept less. The battery packs are thick. High energy density. An 800V system means faster charging and thinner wiring. Thinner wires. Less weight. It adds up.
The car will debut properly at the Paris Motor Show. Sales start early 2027. A Spyder comes in 2028? Possibly.
Design Language
It looks like an Alpine. Obviously.
Laurens van den Acker, design chief, talks about a “family feeling.” Pointed front. Double headlights. That rear window shaped like a helmet visor.
The A110 stays recognizable. From 200 meters away. The proportions might change. For the better. They think.
The APP platform allows wheelbase flexibility. So the A310 — the larger 2+2 sibling — can use the same bones. It’s a direct 911 rival. More space. Same spirit.
The Big Bet
Alpine wants to be a seven-model premium brand. The A390 SUV funds this. The cash flow from the mainstream model keeps the dream alive. Without that SUV success? This EV plan might collapse.
De Meo saw electric as a leveling field. No one has a 100 year head start. Everyone is learning battery tech together.
That’s the hope anyway.
The Turbo 3E was a joke to some. A stunt car. The new A110 aims for precision. Carving corners. Not sliding aimlessly. But can you keep it light enough to matter? Can you keep it affordable enough to sell?
Krief vows they aren’t trading off quality. The new A110 has to be a true A110.
We’ll see at Paris. Or we won’t. Maybe Porsche will beat them to market with their EV 718. Or maybe Porsche won’t exist next decade. The automotive landscape shifts like sand.
Alpine is pouring concrete where others see quicksand.
