New Alpine A390 is French brand's first electric SUV

On sale 2025 Price from £90,000 (est)

If electric SUVs are your classic, all-butter croissant, then think of the new Alpine A390 as the type you’d find in a modern Parisian boulangerie, with pistachio cream and raspberry flakes on top. That’s because while it has all the ingredients you’d want from a family SUV, it also gets extra flavours inspired by Alpine’s sports car roots to give it that extra kick.

Shown here in concept form, this electric coupé SUV will be the French brand’s second electric model after the upcoming A290 hot hatch, challenging rivals that include the Audi SQ6 e-tron and Porsche Macan Electric. While it will use the same mechanical underpinnings as the Renault Scenic E-Tech and Nissan Ariya SUVs, don’t go thinking this SUV is anything other than sporty.

The A390 will be powered by three electric motors, producing a total of around 500bhp and sending their power to all four wheels. That’s more than the 429bhp given to the range-topping Nissan Ariya Nismo, which goes on sale in January 2025, and the Macan 4’s 402bhp. However, it’s down on the outputs of the SQ6 e-tron (510bhp with launch control activated) and the range-topping Macan Turbo (630bhp with launch control).

With two motors at the rear, power can be sent to each of the rear wheels independently, with the aim of giving the A390 greater agility than most SUVs. This is a key way Alpine is trying to get the A390 to drive like its lighter, two-seat sports car, the A110, which earned five stars in our review.

However, unlike the A110, the A390 has to perform as a family car too, and, as such, it’ll have rear doors and three seats in the back.

The concept has two driving positions: an everyday lofty position and a low, Formula 1-style position. The latter position also makes the steering wheel more compact by bringing in the grips at either side for a tighter feel, but this isn’t expected to carry over to the production version.

Speaking of the steering wheel, this will house similar features to that of the upcoming A290, with buttons that control the level of regenerative braking (which actively helps to slow the car down while harvesting energy when you lift off the accelerator), as well as an ‘overtake’ button that boosts power for short bursts of acceleration – another detail pulled from F1. 

Prices for the A390 haven’t yet been revealed, but it’s expected to start at around £90,000. That would make it a similar price to the SQ6 e-tron and more expensive than most versions of the Macan Electric.

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