The new A390 fastback displays the common threads of Alpine design, says group vice president Laurens van den Acker. “You have a pointed front end, with Alpine written in the front and the double-headlight signature. You have the body side line that drops down and the very nice rear window.” Shaped like a helmet’s vizor, it unites the A110 and A390. “But we want to give every car its personality,” van den Acker tells us.
“The A110 will be replaced. If you want the pure DNA of the brand, it’s always available in the A110: it’s the roots on which we’re growing a tree. The A110 will be very recognisable, but in terms of proportions and surfacing, it will evolve – for the better I’d say.”
The APP sports car platform allows for bigger wheels to boost the stance. “And it’s versatile because you cannot make money with one sports car. Because it’s extruded aluminum, it’s relatively easy to change the wheel base or width. And that helps pull different vehicles off it,” says the design director. Alpine boss Krief predicts APP will underpin the two-seat coupe and a roadster version, plus 2+2-seater models.
It’s an ambitious plan, which should add a 1,000bhp hybrid supercar and potentially a bigger SUV on top, if Alpine eventually decides to attack the US market. But why will it work, given that French car makers have typically failed to crack the premium market?
Luca de Meo believes the electric transition is a great leveller. “More or less, we are on a par with the others. Everybody’s learning, everybody’s investing in battery technology and e-motors. It’s not that we have a 100-year gap to close so maybe it’s an opportunity for us.
“In the first generation, electric cars have been, in the main, appliances like washing machines – kind of ugly and unemotional. Maybe we can prove that electric car technology can actually be fun, that we can put in a soul. Alpine’s original position was doing more with less, the use of materials, of lightness instead of a big thing with big batteries. That’s the window I see again.”
Tell us what you love (and hate) about your car. Take the Driver Power survey now and you could win a £1,000 John Lewis voucher
