Alpine A390 review

New electric crossover is supposed to be an A110 for five. That's a tough ask, writes Illya Verpraet

- Illya Verpraet

Alpine, in its 21st-century incarnation at least, is still a young brand, but it's quickly growing up.

The first step in the masterplan was to make us all take notice with a sports car: the brilliant A110. Then it came up with something more attainable: the Renault 5-based A290 hot hatchback. Now it needs a car for all the family to enjoy. That'll be the new Alpine A390.

Because it's 2025, that means it's electric, and because the batteries need to go in the floor, it's crossover-shaped.

WHAT'S IT LIKE?

This is a slightly difficult story for Alpine to tell, because the brand is all about cars being light, and as an electric crossover, the A390... isn't that. So supposedly, the A390 is all about creating the A110's feeling of lightness through the torque vectoring and the careful tuning of the traction control and stability control (ESC) systems.

Deep down, the A390 is related to the Renault Scenic E-Tech, but it isn't just a Scenic with a sloping roof. It's clearly trying to emulate the A110 with its curvy bonnet, central spine and visor-shaped rear windscreen. I'm not convinced it has worked, but you'll be the judge.

Like the Tesla Model S Plaid and Maserati Granturismo Folgore, the A390 has three motors — one at the front, two at the back.

The A390 will come in two versions: GT and GTS. In both cases, there's an asynchronous motor at the front, and two back-to-back permanent-magnet ones at the rear.

In the GT, they all produce 132bhp each, though the one at the front has more torque, at 176lb ft; the rears have 156lb ft each. The GTS has three 154bhp motors with 221lb ft at the front and 193lb ft each at the back.

That lets it do proper torque vectoring: rather than just brake an inside wheel to encourage the car to turn in, it can overspeed the outside rear. This is electric performance cars coming of age and trying stuff that has no analogue in combustion-engined cars.