From 2024, Alpine’s “Dream Garage” will materialize with the first release of an electric sports city car. L’argus reveals the little secrets of this 218 hp bomblet that will be produced in the Renault factory in Douai.
Since his arrival at the head of the Renault group in the summer of 2020, Luca de Meo’s ambition is to perpetuate the sports brand which cannot live with the only berlinetta including the 10,000e This copy left the Dieppe factory in June 2021. The Italian is not at his first attempt, he who relaunched Abarth and created the Cupra brand during his visits to Fiat and Seat. Alpine’s new strategy is inspired by these revenues by becoming the premium brand of the Renault group and by focusing on an expanded range with the aim of increasing sales volumes and the reputation of the French firm. What’s more, from 2024, it will negotiate a new sharp turn by marketing 100% electric vehicles. To succeed in its bet, Alpine presented its “Dream Garage” made up of three models. The replacement for the A110, developed with Lotus for 2026, a crossover (code DZ110) assembled in Dieppe in 2025 and a sporty city car produced in Douai at the end of 2024.
““The Renault R5 is cute, the Echo 5 Alpine is a killer” Gilles le Borgne, engineering director of the Renault group“
The technical cousin of the Renault 5
Like the 500 Abarth, the future small Alpine will aim to accelerate sales and democratize the brand. But what will it look like? In an interview in early 2021, Antony Villain, the brand’s design director, said: “Our approach is that of common platforms with Renault but not with the philosophy of derivative models. We are going to create a full-fledged Alpine model without falling into nostalgia”.
For reasons of cost and selling price, this small sports vehicle will be designed on the CMF-B EV platform of the Renault 5. And even more since the central cell will be common. On the other hand, all the skin of the body will be specific. Thereby, the fenders, lights, hood, shields, tailgate and sidewalls are completely redesigned by in-house designers to distinguish the two models. The drawings are already well advanced according to an internal source. The teaser image unveiled in June at the eWays Electropop conference goes in this direction. If the silhouette displays similarities to that of the R5 E-Tech Electric, the Alpine sports a four-headlight look, like the A110 berlinetta. There are even additional headlights as a bonus, to give a look reminiscent of a rally car!
The electric motor of the Mégane
For the technical part, the Echo 5 Alpine (internal name) will adopt the CMF-B EV base. About him, Gilles le Borgne (director of engineering of the Renault group) gave us some details on the differences with the CMF-B of the Renault Clio: “The front axle is kept like the awning, the stretcher points and the driving position except the dashboard. We had to redo the base to house the battery while the rear axle is redesigned because of its mass”. Alpine chassis engineers will put their two cents in the suspension settings and undercarriages in order to “to offer good sensations” as promised by Laurent Rossi, the boss of the brand. Under the hood, the Alpine will also play in the community since it will share its 160 kW (218 hp) electric motor with the Mégane E-Tech Electric, launched in March 2022. This is as much as the 1.6 turbo four-cylinder from the old Clio RS Trophy which developed 220 hp! Ditto for the torque: 300 Nm for the Alpine against 260 to 280 for the Clio. On paper, the next generation is assured …
A 52 kWh battery
The electric machine will be powered by a 52 kWh battery according to Gilles le Borgne. The NMC (Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt) cells will be produced at the Douai site by the Sino-Japanese company Envision AESC then assembled with a few cables in a specific workshop at Renault. The Alpine will be marketed in the best case by the end of 2024 knowing that Renault will launch the R5 during the first half of 2024. At that time, it should have faced the Peugeot 208 PSE powered by the new 200 hp Nidec electric motor. Unfortunately, the project fell under the caudine forks of profitability in October 2021. Consequently, it is on the side of Cupra (hey, hey!) That it will find a rival to its height with the production version of the UrbanRebel concept scheduled for 2025.