The Frenchman, known for his work as an engineer on such acclaimed sports cars as the Ferrari 458 and Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, said Alpine is committed to the A310 and its sporting rangemates remaining true to the dynamic principles that have defined the brand and the four-cylinder A110, such as agility.
Pillard said these measures are necessary to make the A310 “an icon of future sports cars” and a “true Alpine”.
Outright performance will be another key pillar of the A310’s positioning. It will adopt the same tri-motor set-up – one at the front and two at the rear – as the A390.
Alpine’s most powerful car to date is the 345bhp limited-run track-focused A110 R Ultime, but its upcoming electric sports cars are likely to surpass that and be capable of far quicker 0-62mph times.
However, design boss Antony Villain said recently that Alpine’s future models aren’t “about just driving straight”, so the A310 is unlikely to be endowed with full-bore supercar levels of power, at least in its standard form.
It will, suggest Alpine, have wheels that light up blue when the car’s torque vectoring is activated. To debut on the A390, it’s a way of making muted electric car driving more exciting for onlookers, said Alpine.
However, unlike other driver-focused EVs such as the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, the A310 won’t emit artificial engine noises or simulate gearchanges. Krief has previously told Autocar that Alpine’s EVs should not sound like they have a combustion engine. He added: “This is fake. This is really fake. I don’t like fake things like that.”
Instead, the A310 is likely to emit a distinctive sound created from the noise the electric motor makes, as in the A290 hot hatch. “We could find something that is not the same but [similar],” said Krief. “It is very easy to do that.”