Ever since it was relaunched as Renault’s performance sub-brand a few years back, Alpine has been sustained by the sublime but niche A110 sports car. That’s starting to change, though. Recently, the A290 was revealed as the hot version of the new Renault 5 EV, and now, there’s a concept to give us a hint at what the first Alpine-only EV will look like: the Alpine A390 Beta.
That ‘Beta’ signifies that we’re looking at a lightly-jazzed up version of a future production car – indeed, Alpine says the Beta is 85 per cent representative of the production A390 that should arrive in a year or two.
Alpine A390 Beta – rear
Somewhat inevitably, it’s an impractical coupe-SUV type thing, powered by electricity. Specifically, there are two electric motors on the rear axle and one up front. It’s based on an Alpine-specific version of the AmpR platform, a set of dedicated EV underpinnings developed by Renault sub-brand Ampere. The batteries sit low under the passenger compartment to keep the centre of gravity down, and we’re promised tricksy active torque vectoring tech.
The body has been penned with a big focus on aerodynamics. The ‘flying bridge’ that splits the bonnet is designed to clean up airflow over the top, and at the back, the floating rear light bar can extend by 80mm to create a longer tail, reducing drag at a cruise.
Alpine A390 Beta – steering wheel
The interior, we imagine, will be rather toned down for the production A390. On the Beta, it includes a yoke-like steering wheel and a driver’s seat that can tilt back into a seating position apparently replicating that of an F1 car, which also raises the pedalbox up for the full sitting-in-a-bathtub effect. We hope the neat holographic instrument display makes production, though.
A sharp contrast is the rear seating area, which features a pair of moulded buckets clad in memory foam. Also back there, “a cube in the form of a hologram addresses the passengers.” Why, we’re not sure. The whole cabin is designed to evoke the look and feel of a fresh layer of snow atop an alpine peak, meaning there’s a recurring ice motif – the keyfob, for instance, is designed to look like an ice crystal.
Alpine A390 Beta – rear seats
The A390 Beta is making its full debut at the Paris Motor Show later this month. If the gap between the A290 Beta and the recently-revealed production version is anything to go by, we could see the finished car late next year or in early 2026.
