The next-generation Alpine A110 will make its debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed – in prototype form.
A test mule for the new electric sports car will be displayed as part of an ‘Alpine moment’, alongside several variants of the outgoing petrol model.
It remains to be seen what disguise the test car will wear. It is unlikely to use production-ready bodywork, given Alpine has yet to provide little more than a hint of the finished car’s design. It may instead look more like the outgoing petrol A110.
The next A110 will be underpinned by the new Alpine Performance Platform (APP). This has been developed with weight reduction as a priority, with aluminium construction and 800V electricals. Notably, it features two battery packs, rather than one larger unit as is conventional for high-performance EVs. The two batteries are positioned over the front and rear axles, giving a 40:60 weight distribution. That is slightly further rear-biased than the petrol A110, which is split 44:56.
Alpine CEO Philippe Krief previously said the split-pack design was chosen so the electric A110 could sit as low as the outgoing car, while also bringing more than 340 miles of range. He added that it has been conceived to complete three laps of the Nürburgring Nordschleife without the battery derating – losing performance due to heat.
The positioning of the rear battery approximately where the petrol engine sits in today’s A110 also presents “an opportunity” to convert the EV to combustion power if needed, said Krief. But he added that this capability has not been included at the cost of the car’s potential as an EV. “If the answer would have been that, it would make the electric car worse," he said. "There’s no way we’d have done it.”
Krief also told Autocar that the new A110 will have a kerb weight on a par with its combustion-engined rivals today, suggesting it will be around 1500kg. Although that is significantly heavier than the current A110, which is at around 1100kg, Alpine has previously touted the potential of torque-vectoring technology to make EVs feel as agile as ICE equivalents.
It remains to be seen how the A110 EV will be powered but the Renault 5 Turbo 3E is also based on the APP, hinting at one direction the sporting brand could take. The wide-arched hot hatch has two in-wheel motors mounted on its rear end, giving a combined output of 533bhp for a 0-62mph time of 3.5sec.
Although it is rare for car makers to present test mules – particularly on a stage as large as the Festival of Speed – Alpine’s decision to do so represents a significant step towards the launch of the electric A110. It is currently expected to be revealed in full next year.
