Alpine tees up electric hot hatch

A290 concept shows direction that performance brand will take new Renault 5 EV

- CHARLIE MARTIN

AIpine will begin its push into the mainstream market next year with an electric hot hatch based on the new Renault 5.

Newly previewed as the A290 Beta concept, it promises to be a more usable accompaniment to the widely acclaimed A110 sports car without compromising the brand's sporting character.

Although the A290 Beta features an FIA-approved racing chassis and two motors mounted on the front axle, the production car will use the 5's CMF-BEV platform.

Renault has already touted the dynamic potential of the architecture, which mounts the battery pack in the floor of the car, lowering its centre of mass and thereby improving its handling. It also features multi-link independent suspension at the rear.

Alpine has further fettled the platform to ensure that it is playful at low speeds and becomes stabler as you accelerate.

"The main thing is agility," said design director Antony Villain. "And we know that when we switch to EV, we have heavy batteries, but we want to find exactly the same driving philosophy: agility and pure pleasure." To this end, Alpine has added hydraulic bump stops to the 5's suspension set-up, improving the ride quality and enhancing handling adjustability.

Similarly, the torque vectoring on the production A290's single front motor has been set up to simulate a mechanical differential, boosting stability under braking and traction as you accelerate out of a corner.