Alpine targets Porsche Macan with new A390 family EV

French sports car brand Alpine is poised to take on the Porsche Macan and Hyundai Ioniq 5 N with its latest electric car, called the A390.

A five-door hatchback with an aggressive front and sloping, coupe-style roofline, the A390 is a step into a new product category for Alpine.

A relative of Renault, the company previously offered only the petrol-powered A110 sports car and the electric A290, a sporty hatchback closely related to the Renault 5. Alpine also runs a Formula One team and will enter the Hypercar category at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans with two of its A424 race cars.

The new Alpine A390 will see the company square up to up-market rivals like the Porsche Macan, as well as sporty electric cars like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. The A390 is expected to be priced from around £60,000 when it goes on sale in the UK in November. Given the popularity for larger, SUV-style electric cars, the A390 could become Alpine’s best-selling car to date. It also places a greater focus on everyday practicality than Alpine’s two previous cars.

Despite being its largest car yet, the A390 isn’t as tall as many of its SUV-style rivals. At 1.5 metres, it’s noticeably shorter than the Tesla Model Y (1.62m), and is in fact only fractionally taller than the current Volkswagen Golf.

Unusually, the Alpine has a triple-motor setup, with one on the front axle and two on the rear, each powering their own wheel. The base model produces 400 horsepower and sprints to 62 mph in 4.8 seconds, while a more potent (and no doubt pricier) version has 470 hp and a sprint time of 3.9 seconds. That model also features larger 21-inch wheels and a sound system by French audio specialists Devialet.

As for range, Alpine says both versions of the A390 have an 89 kWh battery capacity, with the all-important WLTP range figure landing at 347 miles for the base model and 325 miles for the more powerful version. Alpine says the A390 can fill its battery from 15 to 80 percent in about 25 minutes at up to 190 kW, providing it’s hooked up to a rapid charger.

Inside, the steering wheel is just like that of the A290 hot hatch, complete with red and blue switchgear inspired by that of Alpine’s F1 car. There’s a blue switch for changing the strength of the regenerative braking system, and a red button beneath the driver's right thumb. Press that on partial-throttle, and the A390 will instantly deploy maximum power. It sounds like a gimmick, but in the A290 it’s a lot of fun to deploy when punching out of slow corners.

The dashboard is home to an all-digital instrument cluster and a central infotainment screen angled towards the driver. Below that is a handful of physical buttons and switches for key controls, including cabin temperature.

There’s no fake engine soundtrack and gearbox, like that of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, but instead the A390 has an optional augmented sound that Alpine says is inspired by the petrol engine of its A290 sports car.