Alpine has revealed its next A110 by hiding it. That sounds like the sort of contradiction only a car company could deliver with a straight face, but the blue-draped sculpture previewing the third-generation sports car is rather more useful than the usual silhouette and smoke-machine routine.
We cannot see the production body, yet we can see the thinking. The cabin sits like a water droplet between four swollen wheelarches. The waist is pinched, the nose dips forward and the tail crouches low. It is recognisably an A110, only with the delicate little French sports car turned up a few notches. Good. Electrification should not require a personality transplant.
A veil with something to say
The clever part is that Alpine has used the cover as a design tool rather than a disguise. Stretch fabric over a shape and all the surface decoration disappears; proportion has nowhere to hide. What remains here is compact, low and pleasingly dramatic, with the familiar twin-light idea, a V-shaped face and a teardrop cockpit set inside muscular haunches.
Alpine says Concorde inspired the sculpture, specifically the tension and energy of breaking the sound barrier. That is wonderfully French and just a little theatrical. It also makes more sense than it first appears. The present A110 succeeds because it feels light on its feet and looks as though air has polished it smooth. A supersonic aircraft is a better reference point than another angry electric SUV with a glowing grille.
There is a danger, naturally, that the eventual road car will be calmer than the sculpture. Concepts are allowed to stand on tiptoe; production cars must accommodate lamps, wipers, mirrors, number plates and people with heads. Even so, Alpine is committing publicly to the ingredients that matter: a low rear, slim waist, pronounced arches and a cabin that does not resemble a greenhouse balanced on a battery tray.
The engineering is the real reveal
Under that blue shroud sits the Alpine Performance Platform, a bespoke electric architecture rather than borrowed underpinnings dressed for a weekend at the Nürburgring. Its structure uses aluminium, while two battery packs are positioned to preserve a 40:60 front-to-rear weight distribution. The system runs at 800 volts and uses cell-to-pack construction, decisions intended to cut mass and charging time.
Those details matter more than a boastful power figure. The current A110 has built its reputation on refusing to join the horsepower buffet. It is relatively light, modestly sized and interested in corners. Replacing its petrol engine with a giant battery and then compensating with huge motors would miss the joke completely. Splitting the pack to protect the shape and balance suggests Alpine understands the assignment.
The rear axle will use two electric motors in a single assembly with a silicon-carbide inverter, accompanied by aluminium suspension and newly integrated braking and steering systems. That could give Alpine extremely quick control over torque at each rear wheel. More power is easy in an EV; making that power feel adjustable, playful and natural is the difficult bit.
Please keep it small
The A110 FUTURE development mule seen at Goodwood in July wore stretched current-generation bodywork to cover the new platform. “Stretched” is the word that should make enthusiasts shuffle nervously. Modern cars have a habit of growing until yesterday’s sports car becomes tomorrow’s grand tourer, usually with the width of a kitchen island.
The sculpture is reassuring because its visual mass appears tightly gathered around the occupants. Alpine has not published the production car’s dimensions, power, price or range in the material reviewed here, and those omissions deserve patience rather than guesswork. The deciding number may be neither acceleration nor battery capacity, but weight. An electric A110 cannot be as feathery as its petrol predecessor, yet it must feel like the engineers treated every unnecessary kilogram as a personal insult.
An EV with an actual point of view
Alpine plans to build the third-generation A110 at Dieppe on the APP platform, and the finished car has the unenviable job of carrying an icon into a noiseless era. The temptation will be to drown that anxiety in speed. Resist it. The market already has electric cars capable of rearranging passengers’ internal organs between traffic lights.
What it lacks is a small electric sports car with wit, delicacy and a distinct silhouette. Beneath the fabric, Alpine appears to be making exactly that argument. Now it needs to pull off the sheet without revealing that the lightness was only theatrical drapery.
Sources
- Auto Express: New Alpine A110 teaser report
- Alpine: sculpture previewing the future A110
- Alpine: A110 FUTURE development car and APP technology
- Alpine: A110 production countdown
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