Alpine, the sports car brand owned by France’s Renault Group, first announced plans to enter the US market in June 2023 with a duo of performance luxury EVs.
As the EV market has changed dramatically since then in the United States, which canceled the EV federal tax credit last year and rolled back stricter fuel economy standards that favored EVs, Alpine was forced to rethink its strategy.
While the initial plan was to start selling vehicles in the US from 2027, tariffs and regulatory hurdles have reportedly delayed Alpine’s US debut closer to 2030 and have changed its potential model lineup as well.
The Next-Gen A110 May Also Get a Gas-Powered Variant
The A110 core sports car, which is going all-electric for its next generation but may also feature a gas-powered variant, and a larger crossover designed to compete with the Porsche Cayenne are now rumored to be Alpine’s US bets.
While reports are nothing more than reports, there is now a serious reason to believe Alpine is dead serious about coming to US, and that is the fact that it’s subjecting the next-gen A110 to crash testing in the USA.
Alpine CEO Philippe Krief confirmed the news to Automotive News last week, a strong suggestion that the brand is serious about entering the lucrative US car market. While the executive noted that a final decision hasn’t been made yet as to whether the A110 will launch stateside, undergoing US crash tests is an essential step in the process of certifying a car for sale in the US, not to mention it’s also really expensive.
Besides revealing that the upcoming Alpine A110 electric sports car is undergoing US crash testing, Krief also said the Alpine Performance Platform (APP) that underpins it—shared with the Renault 5 Turbo 3E super hot hatch—can also accommodate internal combustion engines. He would not elaborate on whether the A110 would launch as an EV or gas-powered model in the US, but given the current EV environment, an internal combustion version should be in the cards.
What We Know So Far About the Next Alpine A110
The next-generation Alpine A110 is scheduled to launch overseas by the end of 2027, but the US version will follow later on, likely before 2030. Besides crash testing and homologation, launching a new car stateside involves a lot of steps, including building out a sales and service network. Renault reportedly held talks with AutoNation regarding this in 2023, but the result of those discussions—if any—remains unknown.
The upcoming Alpine A110 will sit as low as the current ICE car and will be a bit longer, with the styling to stay close to the current model, Krief recently told Autocar. The targeted weight is around 3,300 lbs, which is not bad at all for an EV but still a lot more than the current A110’s 2,500 lbs.
The electric sports car will be offered as coupe, convertible, and four-seat GT, and will retain its mid-engine dynamics thanks to the 70-kWh battery pack being placed behind the seats. As a result, the driving position with be even sportier than the current Alpine A110, with the driver’s feet raised, Formula 1-style, and the seat very reclined. The driving range is estimated at over 300 miles—or three full-speed laps of the Nürburgring.
Power is expected to come from two rear-mounted electric motors delivering more than 345 hp—which is what the most powerful gas A110 currently makes—but Alpine is also leaving the door open to in-wheel motors like those that power the Renault 5 Turbo 3E.
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