2024 Alpine A5: What We Know So Far About The French Electric Hot Hatch

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2024 Alpine A5: What We Know So Far About The French Electric Hot Hatch

These illustrations were made by Jean Francois Hubert/SB-Medien for CarScoops and are based on recent Alpine A5 EV teasers and the Renault 5 Prototype model. They are speculative renders that are not related to nor endorsed by Renault or Alpine.

French sports car-maker Alpine is preparing to reinvent itself as a radically-changed, EV-only company with a three-car lineup. And the first of those three models is a hot hatch based on parent company Renault's retro 5 EV and is expected to arrive in 2024.

Renault revealed the 5 Prototype concept earlier this year, and as soon as the images hit the internet there was speculation that it would make the perfect base for a modern day Alpine A5 hot hatch, particularly now that the French company has killed off its Renault Sport sub brand to make way for the Alpine marque.




Then Alpine confirmed plans to turn the R5 supermini into a junior GTI in June when it released a teaser image showing the silhouetted rooflines of three cars: a successor to the Alpine A110 sports car being developed with Lotus, a bigger four-door coupe, and a third car that was clearly a hot hatch.

The original Renault 5 Alpine (called 5 Gordini in the UK due to legal issues with the Alpine name) actually predated the Mk1 Volkswagen Golf GTi, making it one of the very first hot hatches. It later spawned a more powerful turbo version, but Renault retired the badge in the 1980s for its second generation of fast Fives, preferring the simpler GT Turbo badge.




Front-Wheel Drive, In True Hot Hatch Style

Like those original Alpines (and unlike the crazy rear-engined Renault 5 Turbo 1 and 2 built for rallying in the early 1980s), the new Alpine A5 is front-wheel drive. Built around a shortened version of the Renault-Nissan Alliance's CMF-EV electric platform seen on the Nissan Ariya, the standard 5 is expected to use a single 134 hp (100 kW) motor mounted over the front axle. But the Alpine will upgrade that to the 215 hp (160 kW) motor from the bigger Ariya and upcoming Renault Megane E-Tech Electric crossover.

Though it's reasonable to assume the weight of the Alpine's battery pack will make it heavier than the 2780 lbs/1260 kg of a conventional ICE hot hatch like the Ford Fiesta ST, a 215 hp output should be enough to deliver 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) times of well under 7 seconds, versus the 8 seconds Renault claimed for the 2020 concept version of the heavier Megane E-Tech with the same hardware. And with around 221 lb ft (300 Nm) of instantly available torque, mid-range performance should be equally strong.

Renault says the 60 kW battery in the Megane E-tech Electric is good for a 280-mile (450-km) WLTP range, so it's safe to assume that a smaller hot hatch using the same pack and 215 hp motor would deliver over 300 miles (483 km) of driving.

But Alpine may opt for a smaller battery to improve agility, particularly if, as Renault's boss suggested to Automotive News, the 5 is engineered to accept LFP batteries. These are less energy dense, and therefore heavier for a given output, but cheaper to produce, helping keep costs down. Renault recently announced it was partnering with Chinese company Envision AESC and French start-up Verkor to produce batteries for its future EVs.

Renault hasn't revealed any pictures of the 5's interior to help us predict how the Alpine's cabin might look, though one shot of the windscreen showing a transparent digital head-up display screen capable of giving information to the driver and displaying messages to other drivers and pedestrians, offered a glimpse into Renault's thinking (plus a glimpse of some cool quilted sports seats).

But it's easier to imagine how Alpine might build on the concept's exterior, blending the stock hatch's retro style with design cues from the current A110 sports car to create a 5 with a clear Alpine identity.

Like the stock 5, the Alpine is a five-door hatch, a format that's increasingly common even among junior hot hatches. The most obvious change is at the nose, which is likely to gain a pair of driving lights and perhaps swap the diamond-shaped Renault logo for simple letters spelling out the company's name. That branding change will likely be emulated at the rear, which Alpine's silhouette teaser revealed will be topped off by a huge roof-mounted wing.

And if those changes don't draw your attention, the flared arches will. The Renault 5 concept already looked fairly swollen in the fender department, but Alpine's executive vice-president for engineering, Gilles le Borgne, confirmed to both Autocar and Auto Express that the hot hatch will be wider again, saying "we'll adjust the track because it'll be a more sporty look on the R5 Alpine."



Premium Position, Premium Price

Alpine's take on the Renault 5 should be in showrooms before the end of 2024 and will signal a shift in the brand's positioning from a nice sports car maker almost unheard of outside the car enthusiast community to a builder of desirable, relatable and practical performance cars.

Naturally, it will carry a significant premium over the standard Renault 5 EV, which the company hopes to bring to market for between €20-30,000 (£17-26,000; $24-35,000) before government incentives. That suggests the Alpine would come in closer to €35-40,000, but as one of the very first genuinely small electric hot hatches (the substantially bigger Cupra Born is Megane-sized), the hottest 5 could be shooting at an open goal.


What About A Bi-Motor Monster Hatch?

Theoretically, it could also shoot much higher. As used on the Nissan Ariya and Renault Megane E-Tech Electric, the CMF-EV platform is also engineered to take a second motor on the rear axle. Space would be tight on the shorter 5, though, and according to Auto Express, Alpine's Gilles le Borgne says there are no plans to build such a car. But the prospect of a twin-motor, all-wheel drive 5 Alpine with over 300 hp sounds like it would be a riot. It would certainly make a fascinating counterpoint to the even more retro, but wholly independently produced, Legend Automobiles Turbo 3, a restomod inspired by the mid-engined Renault 5 Turbo 1 and 2.


Link: https://www.carscoops.com/2021/08/2024-alpine-a5-electric-hot-hatch-what-we-know-so-far/