New Alpine A110 to benefit from F1 team’s expertise

Alpine design boss Antony Villain has revealed fresh details of the all-new, all-electric replacement for the mid-engined Alpine A110 sports coupe and confirmed it will directly benefit from its Formula 1 team’s design involvement.

As part of the Renault performance brand’s shift to all-EV models by 2030, the next-generation Alpine A110 will be co-developed alongside a new electric sports car from Lotus.

According to Villain, following the arrival of Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo, Alpine’s road car division now has a much closer working relationship with both the remains of Renaultsport and the brand’s motorsport activities – including its F1 team – and it’s the latter’s knowhow that is already benefitting cars like the next-generation Alpine A110 due in 2025.

“We have our F1 aerodynamicist working on road cars and in the future the A110 will be a bit more focused on downforce while on some others [cars] we will do more to reduce drag to improve efficiency and increase range – we now have the expertise in-house,” he said.

When asked if the next A110 would keep the current car's retro looks, the sports car maker’s design boss stressed the importance of remaining intertwined with the French brand’s past.

“We will make it more modern but keep the link. The A110 is the icon. We will stretch the design cues further, a bit more futuristic, but we will keep the legacy feeling,” said Villain.

Other upcoming Alpine models, such as its upcoming electric SUV, will have more freedom in their design but will also inherit some A110 design cues, including its quad-headlight design and V-shaped grille and daytime running signature.

With plenty of help from the Alpine F1 team, the next A110 is expected to feature some state-of-the-art air-bending technology, but active aero won't be on the menu.

“With A110 we try to keep it essential, quite pure. We want it to be naturally aerodynamic,” said Villain. 

“If you remember the A110 started with no wings, no splitter. The best engineering is to put everything genetically in the car. If customers ask for more performance, or a more hard-core feel, we can add later but our philosophy is to start quite simple.”

Alpine's design chief said the biggest problem with active spoilers, winglets and flaps is the extra weight and complexity they bring – and excess baggage is already an issue with any sports car, not least one powered by an all-electric drivetrain.

“With the future A110 we will really focus on mass, we will be best-in-class in the market for lightness, but lightness is just a tool with how we get agility and the feeling [of being] at one with the car,” said Villain.

Offsetting the inevitable weight gain will be new chassis tech that will “erase the feeling of mass” for a more agile feel, said the Alpine design chief.

“It will have the same feeling, the same playful aspect of the car,” claimed Villain.

Obviously the new A110 EV’s powertrain specs are a long way from being confirmed this far out, but the battery-powered Alpine A110 E-Ternité convertible prototype unveiled at the brand’s 60th anniversary at the French F1 GP in July could provide some clues.

Borrowing its 60kWh lithium-ion battery from the Renault Megane E-Tech electric SUV, the topless Alpine A110 (pictured) was claimed to weigh just 258kg more than the combustion-powered version and provide an impressive 440km range.

Driving the Alpine A110 E-Ternité was a rear-mounted motor that, again, was lifted from the Megane E-Tech and produced 178kW/300Nm – less than the standard A110’s 215kW 1.8-litre turbo-petrol engine but enough to hit 100km/h in 4.5 seconds – just 0.1sec later than the petrol A110. Top speed was listed at 250km/h – just 10km/h off its fossil-fuelled sibling.

The secret to the targa-topped A110’s sprightly acceleration and relatively high top speed (for an EV) was a new two-speed dual-clutch transmission in place of the combustion version's seven-speed DCT auto, still channeling power to the rear wheels.

To package the Alpine A110 E-Ternité’s new pure-electric powertrain, the Megane E-Tech battery pack’s 12 modules have been split up, with four positioned at the front of the car and eight packaged towards the rear. This saw the small electric sports car almost match the ICE version's 43/57 front/rear weight distribution with a 42/58 split.

As with many EV rivals, Villain said Alpine won't be tempted to replicate the sound of a roaring V6 or V8 in the new A110 EV..

“We won't repeat the sound of an ICE. We want something natural that will give a real signature that will give a real experience.”

Villain says that, despite sharing a ‘common base’ with Lotus, there will be little overlap between the next A110 and the new electric sports car from Hethel.

Aside from the shared EV platform, neither brand has confirmed whether or not the technical partnership will extend to sharing motors and batteries, although the Alpine design boss did admit the Lotus model will be a “bit more hard-core”.

Despite being still almost three years away from launch, Villain says the 2025 Alpine A110 has already been shown to existing owners and received an overwhelmingly positive reaction, suggesting a concept for the next-gen French sports car could be revealed as soon as next year.

Sadly for those who fancy a new-generation A110, there’s no guarantee the Alpine brand will ever return to Australia.

The current Alpine A110 was discontinued in Australia in 2021 because it didn’t meet new federal side-impact collision regulations in force from November last year.

Not that the original A110 was ever a big seller here, finding just 83 buyers since 2018.

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