Production of the modern Alpine A110's spectacular first generation wrapped up earlier this month, paving the way for a long-promised electric A110 to hit the road in the near future. Alpine showed off a look at that car in motion for the first time on Thursday, rolling what it calls a "development mule" for its new Alpine Performance Platform.
The mule designation is interesting, because it suggests that this might not actually be the electric A110, or even a concept version of that car. Since the A110 Future looks so much like the internal combustion car its platform will eventually replace, it is possible that none of the final car's styling is being shown here at all. Instead, this could simply be a variant of the previous A110 body stretched to fit the underpinnings of its successor.
View Price on AmazonIn an interview last year, Alpine CEO Philippe Krief claimed that the car is targeting more than 464 horsepower and a weight under 3000 pounds. The company has not disclosed if the A110 Future hits those targets, but we do know that it has an 800-volt platform, sends 75 percent of its power to the rear wheels, and splits its battery pack over the front and rear of the car. Alpine also says that it uses a "dual e-motor" setup at the rear, which is crucial to a torque vectoring system that should play a big part in defining the character of the car.
The electric A110 will come first, but the door on an internal combustion successor is not closed. Krief has said in the past that the new platform could accommodate an internal combustion setup, and he told an interviewer on Friday that the company's ambitions to enter the American market could help drive a decision to build such a model. Development of the electric A110 is set to wrap in October, so internal combustion development could follow and a gas-powered car could hit the road a few years from now.
Source: roadandtrack.com
