Ever since Renault resurrected Alpine in 2018 with the firecracker that was the modern Alpine A110, I’ve wondered how its philosophy of lightness over everything would translate to the electric world. There’s not much longer to wait before we find out: Alpine has confirmed we’ll get our first look at its third-generation A110 – at least in test mule form – at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The Alpine A110 Future was recently showcased during a tech day at the carmaker’s French headquarters, but the Festival of Speed will be its first public appearance.
It sits on an all-new Alpine Performance Platform (APP), which is designed to give Alpine’s designers more creative freedom. As well as paving the way for Alpine’s first full-on EV sports car, it can be used for convertibles or 2+2 seating configurations. Its versatility will also allow for as choice of rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive powertrains.
Being able to mount batteries in both the front and rear, creating a 40%/60% weight balance, should deliver the sort of improved weight distribution expected from a sports car. It will also preserve the roof height of the Alpine A110, thereby keeping the sporty profile of any new designs.
A new 3-in-1 e-axle motor featuring a SiC (Silicon Carbide) inverter promises extra torque, more dynamic power handling and much better performance, It’ll incorporate the Alpine Active Torque Vectoring (AATV) system for sharper handling. The APP platform will also be home to 800V battery packs.
The setup will also be supplemented by an all-new aluminium suspension design, along with newly developed integrated braking and steering. Combined, the new powertrain and chassis configuration should deliver a much more potent all-electric sports car experience.
Much of the development work has been done using a dedicated simulator back at the French headquarters. This has given engineers a faster way of optimising the ride, handling, steering and braking characteristics.
The simulator covers the entire design curve, from initial mock-ups through to final designs that include many advanced functions. Engineers can drive on virtual tracks and simulated real roads to test features and functions, while saving countless hours in development time as well as trimming a lot off the development budget.
While Alpine plans to showcase the barebones Alpine 110 Future mule at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this week, all eyes are on the Paris motor show in October, where the French sports car brand is widely expected to unveil the final design.
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