Alpine is ready to try something new.
The French automaker has confirmed that it’s hard at work developing a supercar, according to Autocar. And there’s a good chance that the vehicle, which promises to be unlike anything in brand’s the 69-year history, will feature an all-electric powertrain.
Details about the upcoming model are scarce despite the confirmation. All we know at this point is that the vehicle is being referred to internally as the Future Alpine Supercar and that it will be worked on at the company’s new state-of-the-art research and development center.
The R&D base is called Hypertech Alpine and is located at the company’s Viry-Châtillon Formula 1 engine facility south of Paris. Much of the work at the center will focus on EV technologies, including batteries for its next-generation sports cars and ultra-high-density cells and chemistries that will be used in future solid-state packs. Additionally, Alpine’s EV division, Ampere, will also develop new electric motors at the facility, according to the British publication. The center will also bring together the automaker’s motorsports programs, including its World Endurance Championship, Dakar, and F1 teams (the last will cease operations at the end of the 2025 season), for the first time.
“Creating this Hypertech Alpine centre is key to Alpine’s development strategy and, more broadly, to the Group’s innovation strategy,” Alpine CEO Philippe Krief said in a statement. “It is a turning point in the history of the Viry-Châtillon site, which will ensure the continuity of a savoir-faire and the inclusion of its rare skills in the Group’s ambitious future while strengthening Alpine’s position as an ‘innovation garage.’”
The fact that the majority of the work that will be conducted at Hypertech Alpine helps explain why there’s a strong belief the supercar will be battery-powered even if the marque has yet to confirm so. A supercar, especially one not made by one of the usual suspects, often is used to show off a company’s most advanced vehicle technology, so it is not much of a stretch to imagine that Alpine would want to do just that.
In the fall of 2022, Alpine unveiled a rather outlandish concept called the Alpenglow (pictured up top) that may offer some hints of what to expect from its hypercar. The prototype’s hydrogen combustion engine is unlikely to make it to production, especially if the model is an EV, but its futuristic design may. That’s what we’re hoping at least.
