Alpenglow Idea Provides a Glimpse at a Forbidden Alpine Hypercar

Alpine remains to be fairly a younger model in its present incarnation. Renault resurrected the storied title in 2015 with an idea automobile for Gran Turismo, and the production-spec Alpine A110 adopted two years later. The A110 has loved some updates — we acquired the leaner, meaner S and the track-focused R in current months — however the firm remains to be determining what a real vary appears to be like like. A brand new idea, known as Alpenglow, will supposedly assist information the way in which.

The Alpenglow was teased Thursday morning in tandem with the Paris Motor Present kicking off subsequent week. It seems to be an idea automobile within the purest sense; Alpine has launched no technical details about it, other than the truth that it incorporates a hydrogen fuel-cell powertrain, and the hydrogen itself is saved in two tanks pressurized to 700 bar. Does it run? Perhaps! We don’t know but.

Design has clearly been the main target right here, and Alpine says its forthcoming LMDh-class endurance racer will draw upon the Alpenglow’s “form, headlamps and spirit.” The finer particulars, like the combo of opaque and translucent surfaces comprising the outside, the red-to-blue LED strip bisecting your complete automobile lengthwise, and lightweight trails on the fringes of the rear appear much less applicable for competitors.

The headlights themselves are price a better look, evoking the A110’s quad setup, with a second set of beams offset slightly below the nostril. The Alpenglow evolves this by altering their form from one thing extra typical and round to geometric shapes breaking up on the tail, conveying a way of motion.

The reddish hue of those lights on the entrance of the automobile is what provides the idea its title. Alpenglow, in case you weren’t conscious (I wasn’t) just isn’t the title of a model of dish detergent however fairly the time period used to explain the visible phenomenon that happens when the solar strikes slightly below the horizon, portray mountains purple.

The Alpenglow measures 16.4 ft lengthy, greater than 6.5 ft large, and fewer than 3.2 ft tall — a “dream automobile’s proportions,” the model tells us. The outcomes communicate for themselves, however, personally, I’m not seeing a complete lot of evolution from the Alpine Imaginative and prescient Gran Turismo that kicked off the automaker’s resurgence in the midst of the final decade. Right here was the Alpine VGT, for reference:

And right here’s the Alpenglow, in profile:

The brand new idea is definitely slightly extra dramatic, however the primary type of stubby nostril, rising beltline, and lengthy tail with sharp edges hasn’t modified a lot, as each automobiles share the identical inspiration: Alpine’s A220 prototype of the late ’60s. Furthermore, the Alpenglow just isn’t preview of a specific hypercar that can be bought to the general public as a result of, as Alpine factors out itself in this newest press launch, such a automobile doesn’t determine into its future lineup plans:

[Alpine’s] subsequent era of fashions – its Dream Storage – will comprise three unique and trailblazing all-electric fashions: a compact sports activities automobile (B section), a GT crossover (C section) and a A110 alternative.

Fairly, that is how probably the most excessive Alpine would look, if probably the most excessive Alpine might exist. As a lot as I’d love for the model’s eventual LMDh chassis to resemble the Alpenglow, I’m not going to carry my breath; race automobiles should fulfill rules after all, and so they hardly ever hit the monitor wanting fairly as good as they do after we meet them in reveals for the primary time. (Cadillac bought fairly shut with its newest Le Mans racer, although, to be truthful.) Alpine’s prototype is because of debut within the World Endurance Championship in 2024.