Of course, you can ask yourself whether an Alpine can be fully electric. Or should be. But you can also just get into an Alpine A390 GT in southern Spain and drive off.

That’s what we did.

Southern Spain in winter. Mild, warm winter sun, citrus fruits, palm trees in the deep sunlight that seems so golden and grainy, as if someone had put a Super 8 filter over reality. The Alpine A390 GT makes no noise as it takes off. No ritual, no warm-up, no drama. It rolls off. And perhaps that’s the first difference you need to understand: This car wants to drive.

When you press the pedal, it delivers this seamless thrust that strains stomach walls. A sports fastback that doesn’t roar. The experts call this “permanently excited” in electric motors, which basically describes nothing more than an incredibly strong muscle with maximum pre-tension, which also has almost no reaction time when it needs to tense up. 400 hp and 661 newton metres for 4.8 seconds to a hundred is that in hard currency, with the GTS version even 470 hp and 824 newton metres and 3.9 seconds to a hundred. Thanks to Active Torque Vectoring, the Alpine also claws its way into the tarmac out of pure desire for centrifugal force, pulls into the bend, holds its line and remains calm. No bruiser, no regulating theatre. Grip, balance, confidence.

That sounds banal. If the Alpine brand were a person, it would be easy to speak of an eventful life. Birth in 1955. The name is inspired by the high mountains, where an Alpine feels most at home on the winding roads. feels most at home on winding roads. Early successes. In 1973 World Rally Champion, overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1978. The A110 and A310 infected entire generations of young French people with a passion for passion for sports cars. “We have proven that we can build them very light and very stable,” defined Jean Rédélé, racing driver, engineer and founder of the legendary engineer and founder of the legendary sports car brand, defined the DNA back then.

And then? Marriage with Renault. Difficult times. Right up to the Near-death experience. A brand in a clinical vegetative state. But this was followed by the comeback. Endurance World Championship, Formula 1 and with the new A110 back on the (Alpine) roads in 2017. That is no catharsis. This is the stuff of ( … )

→ Read the full story in ramp #70 “Fair Enough”

Text & Photos: Matthias Mederer – ramp.pictures

ramp #70 Fair Enough

Sometimes it seems as though the world has decided to make everything a little more complicated than necessary. These days, a cappuccino needs seven adjectives. A car needs twelve driving modes. And lately, even a walk has to be tracked. Meanwhile, somewhere, a Brit stands at the bar, raises his eyebrows with a smile, and says, “Fair enough.” Find out more