Alpine won’t fit the upcoming A110 EV with “fake” gearing, as Hyundai has with the Ioniq 5 N, or pump the cabin with synthetic engine noise, the French brand’s CEO has said.
In the Ioniq 5 N - the first purpose-built electric hot hatch – an artificial gearbox can be operated through paddles, accurately simulating the power delivery of an internal combustion engine (ICE). Simulated engine noise is also played through the speakers.
When asked if the A110 EV could adopt a similar set-up, especially in light of the Ioniq 5 N’s positive reception, Alpine CEO Philippe Krief said: “This is fake. This is really fake. I don’t like fake things like that.”
He added that the next A110 should not sound like it has an ICE because it “is an electric car”, although he added that “we could make electric cars have the sound or things of ICE cars” if customers demanded it.
It's possible that Alpine will use a man-made sound instead of simulated engine noise, as in its new A290 hot hatch.
“We could find something that is not the same but [similar],” said Krief. “It is very easy to do that.”
Due in 2026, the new A110 will be Alpine's third electric car, following the A290 (derived from the new Renault 5) and the production version of the A390_B concept being unveiled at the upcoming Paris motor show.
Although Alpine has previously tested an electric powertrain in the existing A110 structure, the new car will sit on a bespoke platform. This will be shared with a Porsche 911-style 2+2 called the A310, earmarked for launch later this decade.
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Some evs sound like a combination of a spaceship and a giant rc car, induction noise and a sort of howl, if they get it right it'd sound really good. Some people will always say they hate it because engines, i'm guessing these people also only listen to one type of music too.
Nobody yet has come up with a sound that when you hear it you stop and turn your head and go whoaaa!, giving an EV a fake gearbox sound would soon get boring, the fun of going fast imo has gone, in an EV it's jst too easy but boring because you know it's so easy to do.
How would it be boring? Have you even driven an Ionic 5N?! From what I’ve read and what though who haven actually driven the vehicle have said, that the 5N sounds and drives/responds like the engine type that it’s mimicking. That the ‘pretend’ shifts are so good and close to the original, that when the system is on, its actual a few tenths of a second slower then when the system is on. That’s the point for me, the fact that you can turn it off! So when your your out running errands with the family, taking the child to and from school, picking up your parents, everyone is not shaken and jarred to death, because they’re riding in a vehicle with an overly aggressive suspension set for everyday driving. But when the main driver is on their way home from an crazy day at work and wants to blow off steam, or its track day on the weekend, they simply turn the system on and have at it with either sound or no sound! The other thing I think is cool, is that you can attempt to beat your best time on the track in either mode! How is that boring?? You still may not like it and that’s okay too, but as the saying goes, ‘let’s not knock it until we’ve tried it’.
As Bob Cholmondely put it quite accurately, why buy an EV to make it ,when you choose, to drive like an ICE car.
I think Alpine are going the right way, I don't get why anyone would buy an electric car and, then want to try and pretend they didn't...