The next-generation Alpine A110 could be fitted with a combustion engine, brand boss Philippe Krief has confirmed – although he insists the first focus is on developing an uncompromised electric sports car.
The new model is due to arrive next year as the successor to the current two-seater in coupe and convertible forms and will sit on a bespoke new architecture, the Alpine Performance Platform (APP).
As previously reported by Autocar, the APP will also be used by the Renault 5 Turbo E mega-hatch and is designed to accept an innovative powertrain featuring a pair of rear motors.
Extensive torque vectoring will be used in a bid to offer the same ‘lightweight’ feel as the current ICE A110. In-wheel motors, as seen on the 5 Turbo 3E, could eventually be offered too.
Alpine has now shared more details of the APP, which features 800V electronics, uses aluminium to reduce weight and increase agility and has two battery packs – one stacked in the front of the car, the other in the rear – to allow the car to sit lower and feature a 40:60 weight balance.
Krief said the split battery design “is a technical complication” but “it was necessary because otherwise the car would have been too high”.
Krief declined to give details of the battery size, adding that the focus was “that we are developing a sports car, so we want the performance to be track-ready”.
He said the A110 EV would offer more than 340 miles of range, a figure that was set so that it could complete three laps of the Nürburgring with “the full potential and capacities of the battery”.
The front battery is stacked up and largely sits where a combustion engine would, which Krief said presented “an opportunity” to adapt the platform to accept one.
He said: “We asked what it would mean to make the platform compatible with an ICE. If the answer would have been that it would make the electric car worse, there’s no way we’d have done it. But with some small modifications on the platform we can accommodate an engine, gearbox, fuel tank and all you need.”
Krief declined to give details of what engine might go into the A110 but admitted that it would likely be offered only in certain markets, particularly the US, where EV target rules were recently rolled back, making EVs less appealing to buyers.