Prior to its revival in 2017, Alpine produced some of France’s finest sportscars from the 1950s all the way to the 1990s. Since its revival in 2017, Alpine has only released one model–albeit a great one at that. It’s called the A110, and Alpine has evolved into becoming Renault’s performance and motorsports division as it merged with Renault Sport. This means that it wasn’t just going to make sports cars, but also performance derivatives of Renault’s vehicles as well. Alpine also became Renault’s motorsports flagbearer, actively participating in Formula 1 and the World Endurance Championship. Motorsports is at the heart of modern-day Alpine, and this gave them confidence to expand its model range beyond just the A110. It also declared that it will enter the North American market by 2027, and to enter such a competitive market, here’s how Alpine plans to succeed.
Alpine Will Be 100-percent Electric By The End Of 2026
The Alpine A110 is a cracking sportscar that has proven to be a very formidable competitor to the Porsche 718 Cayman. The two sportscars have similar philosophies: compact dimensions, relatively lightweight, and a powertrain that’s just right for its size to be considered fun and evocative. Since then, Alpine has created various special editions and higher-performing versions of the A110, such as the 288-horsepower A110 S and the hardcore 300-horsepower A110 R that even came with a Fernando Alonso Edition model.
But as the world switches to electro-mobility, offering a single sportscar with an internal combustion engine (ICE) won’t cut it. Realizing this challenge, Alpine recently announced that they are currently undergoing a “revolution”. The bold statement comes with a preview of Alpine’s fully-electric “Dream Garage”, which consists of seven new models to be launched from 2024 to 2030.
Surprisingly, Alpine’s electric dreams will kick off with an electric hot hatch that’s based on the A290_β concept, a move that is in contrast to most other EV startups that offered big, expensive models first before trickling down to offer more affordable models. The production A290 will utilize the Renault Group’s CMFB-EV platform that will underpin the upcoming Renault 4 and 5 EVs. Details are scarce at the moment since no production model has ever utilized the CMFB-EV platform yet, but we expect the Alpine A290 to be the highest-performing small EV in the Renault Group’s model range. It’s also probably too small for North American tastes, so don’t expect the A290 to be sold stateside.
What will definitely come stateside is the electric successor to the A110. The next-generation electric A110 was previewed with a concept car in 2021 called the A110 E-ternité, which proved to the world that Alpine could develop an electric sportscar that’s lighter than the Porsche 718 Cayman with an ICE. The concept was co-developed with Lotus, but the partnership has been terminated–albeit on friendly terms. Moving forward, Alpine is now developing a new platform called the Alpine Performance Platform (APP), in which the production electric A110 will formally debut in 2026.
Unfortunately, the 2026 launch date also means that American buyers won’t ever get the chance to own an ICE-powered A110. Remember, the brand is only set to enter the North American market in 2027, in which by that time, its lineup will consist purely of high-performance EVs.
Alpine Is Aiming To Replicate Porsche’s Strategy
Alpine said that its revenues for 2022 have hit a record, up 33 percent versus 2021. The A110 is the best-selling sportscar in France for the past seven years and is also one of the five best-selling sportscars in Europe. There’s currently a seven-month backlog and sales are expected to reach 4,200 units in 2023. But having only one low-volume model is not going to be enough if Alpine wants to continue growing in terms of revenue. Therefore, Alpine is also set to ape the sales strategy of Porsche in a bid to gain more customers and sales.
Porsche only made sportscars until 2003 when it decided to launch an SUV called the Cayenne. The plan worked beautifully for Porsche, bringing in new customers to the brand and more importantly, increasing its sales and thus having more revenue to fund its sportscar development. Likewise, Alpine is aiming to repeat the same feat by launching two more vehicles using its in-house developed APP platform.
APP is set to be a scalable performance EV architecture. This means that apart from the lightweight A110, APP will also give birth to two more models–a roadster based on the A110 and a modern-day four-seater coupe successor to the A310. Once again, details of the APP-based vehicles are very scarce, and no existing vehicle has utilized this platform yet. We’ve now mentioned four cars, the A290, the next-generation A110, the A110-based roadster, and a modern-day A310. What Alpine has also confirmed is the launch of two new cars in the D and E segments, which in North American terms means that these will be midsize and full-size cars. These two will presumably be rivals to the Tesla Model S and/or the Porsche Taycan.
Unsurprisingly, the seventh model will be yet another electric crossover SUV. For now, Alpine is calling it a “Crossover GT” (initially teased as the GT X-Over), which is set to debut in 2025, but this won’t be underpinned by the APP. Instead, it will most likely utilize the CMF-EV platform that the Nisaan Ariya and Renault Megane E-Tech electric crossovers use. Unsurprisingly, details about the upcoming SUV are scarce, since it’s still in the infancy of its development stages, but you can pretty much guarantee that this electric crossover will arrive in America.
What Alpine Needs To Overcome To Succeed
In just a short span of time, Alpine managed to become a household name among car enthusiasts in Europe, mostly thanks to its involvement in Formula 1. Being present in Formula 1, after all, is one of the best marketing tools for any brand to make its presence felt. Unfortunately, in the United States, you need more than motorsports heritage to become popular. Alfa Romeo is also a household name in motorsports, but that hasn’t necessarily translated to the brand becoming desirable in the United States.
Likewise, Alpine will most likely face that uphill battle. It also doesn’t help the fact that French automakers found it too challenging to adapt to the tastes and preferences of North American buyers. Peugeot was the last French automaker to do business in the United States, leaving the country in 1991. Among the French players, Peugeot had the most success, with its sales peaking at 20,000 units in 1984. Initially, they were able to ride the hype train of midsize imported European sedans in the 1980s, but because Peugeot was slow to adapt to shifting American preferences, its sales went on a downtrend, selling just 4,200 units by 1990.
Hopefully, whatever mistakes Renault also did in the past in the United States are still fresh in the memories of its executives. This would help steer its marketing team and executives away from any potential mistakes that could prevent Alpine from being successful in the United States.