Alpenglow? No, it's not a new breakfast cereal, but Alpine's new concept car, due to debut at the Paris motor show next week.
A low-slung, futuristic machine that looks as if you asked Marvel Studios to design a Le Mans racer, the Alpenglow is designed to tease the future of the brand, as well as the electric future for Alpine (and we don't just mean batteries...).
Natural elements
OK, so clearly, the Alpenglow is designed to be a race car of the future, but its styling will have some implications for Alpine's road-going models as the brand starts to edge away from the retro looks of the current A110. The styling is said to be inspired by "natural elements and states - such as fire, water, ice, wind and steam." The body is supposed to look a bit like a base-jumping wingsuit, while the Alpenglow name is meant to evoke the early sunlight on the Alps, underscoring the fact that we're at the dawn of a new age of motoring technology.
Alpine's own watchwords for the Alpenglow are: "as sensational as ever - and even cleaner" and that refers to both road-going sports cars and motorsport. "The power it radiates when it darts by is comet-like; the effect is awe-inspiring, titillating and verging on the artistic. This is the Alpine brand's overarching goal: sustainable sportiness, combining clean emissions (including hydrogen) in roadgoing and racing line-ups with a design where the driver can fuse with the cockpit," said the brand in a statement.
Ah, yes, hydrogen. We know that Alpine is looking towards an electric future in the next couple of years - there will be an all-electric replacement for the current A110, using a sports-car-specific platform co-developed with Lotus, as well as Alpinised versions of electric Renault models, including the new 5 and a next-generation EV crossover. Hydrogen, though, is still very much on the table as far as Alpine is concerned.
Hydrogen combustion engine
"'Green' hydrogen is one of the solutions that the brand is considering for sustainable mobility. A hydrogen-powered engine releases practically nothing but steam during combustion. Water, in other words, is central in Alpenglow's design. It underlines its purity and its power," said Alpine when revealing the Alpenglow. The Alpenglow is powered not by a fuel cell but by a combustion engine running on hydrogen gas, which could be a clue as to how Alpine expects to go racing in the future and may also prefigure an ultra-high performance supercar based around a clean-burning combustion engine.
Inside, the driver sits in a single-seat cockpit with 700-bar pressurised hydrogen fuel tanks on either side. The shape of the cockpit itself is meant to mimic that of a racing driver's helmet, and the canopy glass has a blue tint which blends in with the rest of the bodywork.
The steering wheel has been inspired by Le Mans racing cars (Alpine still competes at Le Mans with an older spec LMP1 car but is apparently working on a new car to the LMDh rules). The 'snowflake' Alpine logo - itself taken from the snowy peaks of the Alps - is embedded throughout the cockpit, and the steering wheel centre has a half-assembled crystal pyramid which is completed - and lights up, naturally - when you put the crystal ignition key into it. The steering wheel also gets driving mode buttons, and an overtake boost switch. There are transparent panels inside, which allow the driver to see the items, such as the steering column and the suspension doing their thing.
Back-to-front lighting
Outside, the Alpenglow's lights are back-to-front. The car gets a lighting system that glows red at the front, "symbolising a comet entering the atmosphere", and slowly turns blue and then white as it works its way back to mimic the hydrogen engine's conversion of H2 into oxygen and water vapour. At the very back, the blue lights have vents built into them, releasing the engine's steam, its only emissions.
The wheels also get the Alpine snowflake treatment, and at the centre have a triangle shape meant to reflect the pyramid shape of the steering wheel. The centre locks have a transparent panel which is apparently filled with hydrogen gas, and through which you can see an Alpine 'A' logo.
At the very rear, the car's adjustable spoiler is completely transparent, which is meant to show off the car's eco-credentials as well as being very light. Other eco-friendly touches include the use of recycled carbon for the bodywork.
How will all of this cycle through to the production models? According to Alpine, the upcoming road-going cars will inherit some of the styling flourishes of the Alpenglow, get unique Alpine steering wheels inspired by the cabin, and use recycled carbon for some of their bodywork. The lighting signature will also be built-in, although we assume that the red-lights-at-the-front thing won't translate.