The French Alpine automaker has enjoyed explosive sales growth this year, expanding from a single sports car model known as the A110 to adding a new electric hot hatch model to its lineup, dubbed the A290. That left us with one previously-announced new model left to be revealed, the A390 sporty fastback EV that was once destined for U.S. shores, but may not be any longer. Now, we’ll finally see the Porsche Macan rival in the flesh this week (tomorrow, in fact), and we should also find out if American exports might still end up happening amid pending trade deals between the U.S. and E.U., or if the dream of electric Alpine cars in America is now dead for good.
What We Know So Far About Alpine’s SUV
For now, the new A390 fastback crossover will be marketed in Europe first, based on the concept of the same name. The concept was described as a new road vehicle that’s “designed for daily use and capable of transforming itself into a true racing beast like the iconic A110,” and it was said to be 85% true to that of the design of a future production model. The concept featured an interior steering yoke, some refreshingly physical switchgear on the dashboard, a passenger display, and a four-seat layout.
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The concept’s exterior design featured large 22-inch wheels with clear panels to view the torque-vectoring tech, muscular wheel arches, a front and rear light bar with crystal-like styling, flush door handles, an A110-inspired greenhouse, and a rear spoiler and diffuser. The top-of-the-range model is said to be engineered with a three-motor setup, though no specs have been directly discussed yet.
Alpine’s Ambitions May Have To Be Curtailed
It’s clear that Alpine will target the newly all-electric Porsche Macan SUV, and likely the Turbo model’s performance. The new Macan Turbo EV gets from 0-60 mph in 3.1 seconds with the help of 630 horsepower, and comes with a driving range of about 288 miles on a full charge. The Macan EV has a 113.9-inch wheelbase for a total length of 188.3 inches, compared to the A390 concept’s measurements of 108.3 inches in the wheelbase and 181.7 inches long overall, so the Alpine should be somewhat smaller in packaging. We’ll find out more tomorrow, May 27, at 11 AM ET, and you can watch the livestream here.
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Alpine originally announced plans for a lineup of seven new models, including sports cars, hatchbacks, and SUVs, claiming they would be coming to the U.S. starting in 2027, but in the context of recent U.S. tariffs and shifting trade policies with the European Union, the automaker announced it was putting those export plans on permanent hold as the costs could rapidly increase.
Renault had previously planned to see global sales volume expand to 150,000 vehicles per year by 2030. Alpine had been in talks with the US-based AutoNation network of car dealerships for distribution, so plans seemed to be pretty far along.
