A future third Alpine model… essential!
Like the Phoenix, a famous bird from mythology endowed with the power of resurrection, Alpine is one of the automobile manufacturers who had the chance to rise from the ashes. It was in 2012. But if the Dieppe label returned through the front door with its very convincing A110 sports car launched a few years later (2017), a sports car which has since been available in a multitude of variants, Alpine’s survival necessarily requires larger models. audience.
So, after the little A290 which is none other than an electric Renault 5 on steroids and which will soon be tested on your favorite auto media, Alpine gives a taste of the rest of its program of new products with the concept A390_β. This “show car”, which will be revealed at the Paris Motor Show which opens its doors next week, gives an idea of the future production A390 expected in 2025, a 100% electric SUV-coupe which will become the largest model never offered by the French brand and likely to please families. But be careful, not everything that this prototype presents will make it into the series. Let’s sort it out together.
85% of the standard A390…
It’s been a long time since car manufacturers stopped having fun creating concept cars for fun. Indeed, exercise is expensive. So at Alpine as elsewhere, investing in a prototype is nowadays the way to create expectations and in passing to take the temperature of the general public. There should certainly be many curious people around the French manufacturer’s stand to discover the A390_β and try to guess what it reveals about the future production model. We also took part in the game by discovering it in real life, and disentangling the true from the false is mainly a matter of logic. When Alpine announces that 85% of the prototype will pass the production threshold, this in fact mainly concerns the bodywork, because the passenger compartment is essentially pure fiction…
Serious clues outside
It is the general silhouette of the production A390 that this concept reveals, starting with the face. Inspired by that of the AlpenGlow study unveiled at the 2022 Paris Motor Show, it is adorned with a wide diode strip to which four fine optics are glued on either side, all supposed to renew the quartet of headlights, signature of the Alpine A110. We should also find on the A390 in 2025 the light triangles delicately integrated into the shield, as well as the perforated hood at the front. The sides of this prototype, approximately 4.70 m long, 1.90 m wide and 1.55 m high, announce the profile of the future model but, alas, not the spectacular doors with antagonistic openings. The solution is in fact too expensive and technically restrictive, especially since here, Alpine has skipped the central uprights, essential to guarantee rigidity.
Finishing the owner’s tour, we also discover serious clues on the stern of the brand’s future model, particularly in terms of the lights or the slope of the tailgate. But it is excluded that the spoiler running on the rear window will be renewed, just like the aerodynamic device… active! Indeed, the enormous diffuser which deploys on demand, at the same time as the red lighting strip which then transforms into a fin, is more science fiction than reality. Finally, to close this chapter, there remains an unknown factor, namely the transition to the series of luminous logos, with “Alpine” written in full on the front and rear. If this is now authorized, the device deployed at the rear on the tailgate with suspended lettering which seems to float in the air – each letter benefits from an individual attachment to the base of the part – seems far too fragile to remain as such what…
A cabin especially for show
By opening the four doors of the A390_β concept wide, don’t expect to discover the interior of the future production Alpine SUV. Indeed, the designers had a field day with ideas that were certainly brilliant, but inapplicable for mass production, in this case in the historic Dieppe factory. It starts with the floor made of recycled carbon and silica, the other particularity of which is that it is not flat. Imitating a mountainous landscape with its ridges and valleys, we let you imagine its practical side for cleaning… Another joke from the design teams, the driver’s seat and the steering wheel allow you to move from the world of SUVs – even if Alpine claims that its A390 series will not be one – that of… F1! Thus, on request, the driver’s seat mounted on jacks descends sharply to give the sensation of being in a single-seater and the pedals rise so that the feet can then touch the accelerator and brake pedal. The highlight of the show, the steering wheel, in Tesla’s Yoke style, shrinks via a mechanical device and the displays placed in its center tilt, giving way to driving program dials like on the hoop of Alpine F1 drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon. Impressive, amusing, crazy, this device will of course not pass muster in the series, just like the crystal-style ignition key to be placed in the middle of the steering wheel. On the other hand, Alpine could use the principle of the blades serving as a speedometer, the latter displaying transparent information like a head-up display. Certain materials from recycling and 3D printing could also survive this prototype. Finally, note that if this concept presents a two-tone interior (black at the front, white at the rear), it is a way for the in-house designers to evoke the Alpine landscapes, with on the immaculate rear seat, little characters of skiers and snowboarders enjoying the joys of skiing. They have to have fun too, the designers!
Already technical information
After the small A290, the production A390 will next year confirm the 100% electric shift taken by Alpine. One thing is certain, the machine will be based on the Renault group’s AmpR Medium platform, the same technical base as the Megane and Scenic. But in order to live up to the driving dynamism claimed by the brand, it is not a traction architecture with an engine placed at the front that the Dieppe manufacturer has chosen. As the concept announces, the production A390 will be all-wheel drive with one engine in front and two behind. This arrangement will make the production A390 very agile, with a Torque Vectoring function allowing it to roll through turns by favoring the sending of torque to the wheel outside the turn. Enough to also effectively combat mass, as we recently observed with the test of the Lamborghini Urus SE, even if the latter also has rear-wheel steering, a technical trick not retained by the French manufacturer. On the delicate subject of weight, we asked the question to the manufacturer’s spokespersons, who kicked in. But according to them, on the circuit, the A390 development mules would be capable of keeping up with the pace… of an A110. We just want to check, but that won’t be until next year, after the reveal of the A390.
