2024 Alpine A290 Beta electric hot hatch teased
French brand Alpine’s sports car concept to preview high-performance EV based on Renault 5Alpine has issued a teaser image of the 2024 Alpine A290 Beta and announced that the near-production battery-electric sports car concept will be unveiled on May 9.
Billed as the Renault-owned sports car brand’s first “lifestyle” vehicle, the Alpine A290 Beta has been developed to be used every day rather than be a replacement for the current Alpine A110.
Instead of being a sporty coupe, the A290 Beta is based on the retro 2024 Renault 5 EV reboot.
As well as packing more power, the Alpine A290 Beta is set for a wider body, ducktail rear spoiler and a prominent front splitter, plus four square spot lamps that feature X-shaped daytime running light graphics.
Préparez-vous, la prochaine ère Alpine arrive bientôt ! ?? pic.twitter.com/2qlxyVu6rS
— Alpine Cars FR (@AlpineCarsFR) April 28, 2023
If you’re wondering about the ‘A290 Beta’ name – the ‘2’ represents the B segment (light cars), while the ‘90’ denotes it as a “multi-purpose” sports car.
In the future, ‘10’ will be reserved for Alpine’s most extreme sports cars.
The ‘Beta’ part is said to reflect that the concept will be running an early-developed (Beta) software that will be finessed, improved and upgraded ahead of its launch.
When launched, the Alpine A290 is expected to come with a single electric motor borrowed from the latest Renault Megane E-Tech that will produce around 160kW.
Driving the front wheels, the A290 should sprint from 0-100km/h in around six seconds, aided by a sophisticated traction control system.
Likely to draw power from a 52kWh battery, the A290 should cover around 320km between top-ups.
Enhancing performance and agility further, the baby Alpine will be based on the same BMF-BEV platform as the Renault R5 but have revised multi-link rear suspension and upgraded front struts.
Weight-saving may also play a role.
The A290 is reportedly one of three cars that will be in Alpine’s next-generation “dream garage” line-up. The other two are the all-replacement for the A110 and the car-maker’s first SUV, the GT-X-Over.
Parent Renault is aiming to boost Alpine’s paltry 3546 sales in 2022 to more than 100,000 by the end of this decade.
Alpine has yet to say when the production version of the A290 will be introduced but the safe money is with 2024.
There’s also no firm word yet on the brand’s return to Australia, although Renault Australia boss Glenn Sealey recently suggested both Alpine and Dacia could be back within three years.
“Alpine is working on its next generation of vehicles and we’re very excited; we think it would work really well in Australia,” he said.
Related: Wild Alpine A110 GT4 Evo teased
Related: Alpine and Dacia still on the cards for Oz
Related: Electric Alpine SUVs to be Lotus-based
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