Meet the Alpine A290_β. Alpine is a brand under Renault. And the Alpine A290_β is an EV ultra hot-hatch concept vision of the A290. Yeah, it’s just a concept. But what’s interesting here, is that Alpine is considering entry into the US market. And man I see a wide-open lane right now for Alpine to bring rowdy performance-based European EV hot-hatches like this to America. Especially with design this on-point! But unfortunately, if Alpine does come to the US, they said it’ll be with 2 crossovers. Annnnnd I already don’t care… see how that works?
What the general population of America needs to realize (sooner than later preferably)…
Is that if we’re going to embrace electric vehicles… we need to start embracing SMALL. Sorry, but we can’t have it both ways. This idea that ‘green’ is a 6-figure, 7,000lb luxury EV that drives itself… that’s a sham. Big heavy EVs take big heavy batteries to get range… which puts a big strain on rare earth minerals, and a big strain on our infrastructure. It’s NOT green or sustainable at this point in time, no matter what the marketing tells you. You wanna be green; you gotta think small. If you wanna be green en vogue and in excess… just say that already.
Wide open lane…
The good news is, with all the bloated & boring EVs entering the market… America is ripe for a fit & fun EV like the Alpine A290_β. A competitive little EV hot-hatch that celebrates the spirit of driving. It wouldn’t need a big, heavy battery… because it wouldn’t be a big, heavy car. And it wouldn’t need huge range, because it only needs to zip around town, run errands, & commute. A smaller battery would get the price (and weight) down. And if the price was economical enough, it would just about pay for itself & be easy to justify. Therefore allowing you to keep the ICE family truck/SUV… and just bang the A290 around while solo. It puts less emissions into the air more of the time, gives you long-lost feelings of driver exhilaration & passion, annnnd gives you the freedom & flexibility of having options between EV and ICE transportation.
See – Electric vehicles don’t have to suck. They just currently DO suck… because the people pulling the strings suck. Hypothetically – imagine if Alpine could get it together & enter the US market with a car like this A290. What kind of impression could that make?
The Alpine A290_β concept…
The Alpine A290_β approaches an electric vehicle through the lens of performance, agility, & spirited driving enjoyment. The proportions are short & wide. Car & Driver said the A290_β was almost 10-inches shorter than a GTI… and wider. The vented rear flares expose cooling fans. And the Xs on the front-end lighting is a nod to vintage motorsports. The A290_β is a FWD concept, with two front motors that can be torque vectored to maximize grip. The cockpit on the β features front-center seating like the McLaren F1. Obviously, that’s just a flare for the concept & not something that would make it to production. But – it was included to show that everything about this hot-hatch EV concept celebrates putting the driver first. And that’s a concept we can get behind. So far, very few mass-produced EVs have put driver-engagement first. As a trend, EVs are actually seeking to remove the driver. So if I was Alpine & I was coming to the American market… this would be the type of car I would lead with. For God’s sake, not another crossover. You really gonna come all the way over here, just to bring more sand to the beach?
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