While manufacturers have been talking about electric motorsport for years, Alpine dropped a proper rally weapon that skips the corporate buzzwords. The A290 Rallye isn’t some concept car destined for auto show floors—it’s a track-only electric hot hatch that you can buy and race this summer.
Built on the bones of Alpine’s street-legal A290, this competition machine packs 220 horsepower and 300 Newton-meters of torque through a front-mounted motor. That’s identical power to the road car, but everything else gets the full motorsport treatment.
Your weekend warrior dreams just became carbon-neutral, whether you’re ready or not.
The transformation from street car to rally beast involves serious hardware upgrades. ALP Racing suspension replaces the standard setup, while a ZF limited-slip differential handles the torque distribution that would otherwise light up the front tires like a Fast & Furious sequel.
The FIA-spec roll cage turns the cabin into a survival pod, complete with racing seats and a hydraulic handbrake for those sideways moments that make rallying addictive.
Racing Through Reality Check
Picture yourself attacking a mountain stage in the French Alps. The A290 Rallye’s 52kWh battery pack—same as the road car—means you’re not running out of juice mid-stage like some dystopian nightmare. The 0-62mph sprint happens in under 6.4 seconds, which sounds modest until you remember that rally cars spend most of their time dancing around corners, not drag racing.
Here’s where things get weird: Alpine added an external sound system that mimics engine noise, synchronized with speed and throttle inputs. It’s basically automotive theater for spectators who expect rallying to sound like controlled explosions rather than aggressive vacuum cleaners.
The $63,000 Reality
That $63,000 price tag excludes tax but includes everything needed to show up at your first rally event. No hunting for aftermarket parts or wondering if your modifications meet regulations. Alpine’s Dieppe workshop builds each car to order, delivering a painted, race-ready machine that’s immediately eligible for competition.
The catch? This thing can’t touch public roads, and rally durability under real competition remains unproven.
You’re betting on Alpine’s motorsport heritage translating to electric reliability when the stages get brutal. Electric rallying just shifted from experimental curiosity to a legitimate racing option.
