- Alpine is testing the next A110 to U.S. crash standards.
- The new platform supports electric and combustion power.
- America buys half of the world’s sports cars today.
American drivers have spent years looking longingly across the Atlantic at the Alpine A110, a lightweight sports coupe widely praised for its razor-sharp handling. Now there’s a tiny hint that the forbidden fruit might finally become available.
Alpine’s CEO revealed this week that the next-generation A110 is being put through US crash tests. That’s a pretty unusual step for a car that technically isn’t planned for sale in America. Automakers normally only run those tests if they’re at least considering bringing a vehicle to the US. Otherwise, it’s just an expensive way to smash perfectly good prototypes into walls and poles.
Related: Renault Spent $30 Million To Make This French 911 Legal In America, Then Built Just 12
For Alpine, the potential payoff could be huge. Despite shrinking demand for sports cars, CEO Philippe Krief told Auto News that the global market for vehicles like the A110 sits at roughly 350,000 units per year, and about half of those sales happen in the United States. So skipping America means ignoring the biggest sports car market on Earth.
America Is An ‘Opportunity’
“We’re now focusing on Europe, because the business is built for Europe, but naturally the growth could be in the US,” the former Ferrari man said. “At least, I would not want to avoid that opportunity in the US,” he continued, while conceding that selling and distributing cars in America would need some planning even if the regulatory roadblocks were overcome.
Originally, Alpine had planned to enter the US with a pair of electric crossovers around 2028. But those plans are currently on ice as EV demand cools and tariffs complicate global trade. Instead, the company might be considering leading with the one car enthusiasts actually want, the A110.
All-New A110
That would be the next-generation A110 due to hit the road in 2027. The upcoming model rides on a new Alpine Performance Platform known as APP, with the first details and pictures revealed this week. It was originally designed purely for electric power, but having watched the market for electric performance cars sag, Alpine later figured out how to squeeze combustion engines into it as well.
Krief stopped short of confirming a petrol version for sale, but the platform’s flexibility makes one look increasingly likely. Alpine knows that while electric sports cars sound exciting in theory, the real-world market remains pretty small.
911-Style Big Brother
The APP architecture will underpin several cars, and not just a new A110 coupe. There will be one of those, of course, but also a convertible spider version, and a larger 2 plus 2 sports coupe designed to challenge the Porsche 911. That last one could be especially interesting for the US, where the 911 sells by the bucketload, and a higher price would mean higher margins than with the A110.
