Back in the mid-1970s, the original Renault 5 Alpine was one of the very first hot hatches, even beating the legendary VW Golf GTI to market. And this year it’s going to do it again, only this time with electric power.
Like its near-50-year-old grandaddy, the new Alpine will be based on a Renault 5, and because Renault has retired its much-loved Renaultsport brand, Alpine will be handling all of the hot hatch activities. Both the base 5 and hot Alpine use the same CMF-BEV platform, which Renault claims offers a low center of gravity and a multi-link rear end – that last feature a rarity among small, front-wheel drive cars.
2024 Alpine A290: Everything We Know About The Punchy Electric Hot Hatch
Yes, even the Alpine sticks with two-wheel drive, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be slow. If we go by the figures published for the A290b concept revealed in May of 2023, the production car should have 268 hp (272 PS / 200 kW), which would make it more powerful than the fastest of the new Mini Cooper EVs, the SE, which makes do with just 215 hp (218 PS / 160 kW).
Some sources claim that a high-power motor is coming later though, and that Alpine will launch the A290 with a less muscular version with exactly the same output as the Cooper SE.
Like the Renault-branded 5, the Alpine version has doors front and back, though the styling does its best to hide the fact by flaring the rear fenders and fitting the handle at the base of the C-pillar. These latest spy shots taken in northern Sweden also reveal arch and sill extensions, just like the ones fitted to the A290b concept, though we’re still waiting to see if the show car’s square, grille-mounted driving lights make it to production.
The A290 is expected to make its debut later this year, sometime after the Renault 5, and will be the most affordable model in the expanded lineup Alpine plans to roll out in the coming years. The brand is going all-electric and in addition to the A290 is working on a new A110 coupe and convertible, coupe crossovers, and SUVs, some of which – though probably not the A290 – could make it to North America.
