Alpine A390 GT: Andalusian Escapism in the 'Racing Car in a Suit'
There are worse ways to start a day than a 7am espresso and a quiet shuffle through security, especially when Andalusian sunshine is waiting on the other side. Even so, nothing sets the tone quite like stepping out into the Málaga sun to meet Alpine’s latest: the A390 GT, finished in gleaming Bleu Alpine Vision, a blue so luminous it looks lit from within. It’s the shade worn by the brand’s F1 team and the A110, as if the Mediterranean had been distilled and poured over metal.
This is Alpine’s first fully electric fastback and the middle child of its Dream Garage EV line-up, sitting between the A290 hot hatch and the forthcoming all-electric A110. Alpine pitches it as “everyday extraordinary”, a car with five-seat grand-tourer versatility and the spirit of the sports cars that made the name. Very much my kind of car.
To understand its significance, we should revisit the brand itself. Alpine isn’t merely a sub-label within the Renault Group; it is its motorsport jewel, shaped by French finesse and competition grit. Founded in 1955 by Jean Rédélé, the brand was built on a simple idea: light, nimble cars that could thread mountain passes with improbable agility. The A110 became a rally legend because it was communicative and full of character. Now Alpine faces the challenge every storied marque does, electrification, and the A390 GT is its bridge between eras, carrying the essence of that heritage into a new, electric age.
First Impressions
Alpine calls the A390 GT a “racing car in a suit”, and in person the line is more accurate than poetic. The shape is taut and deliberate, part coupé elegance, part grand-touring solidity. The sculpted bonnet blade suggests movement at a standstill, and the visor-style rear window gives the silhouette real athleticism. The triangular “Cosmic Dust” lights are the showpiece, half headlamp, half design statement. Look closely at the corner of the windscreen and you’ll find a tiny etched A110, a nod for those in the know. The eye-catching 21-inch wheels, a reworking of Alpine’s "Snowflake" design, look like icicles frozen mid-spin.
Inside, the mood is quietly luxurious: leather, driver-first, and mercifully free of digital theatrics. The high centre console echoes the A110’s cockpit intimacy, and two crisp screens say what they need to and no more. The Nappa leather-wrapped wheel carries F1-inspired controls, including a handsome blue regen knob and a red OV overtake button that makes you feel mischievous just by touching it. The heated seats are supportive enough to invite long, unhurried distances, and the thirteen-speaker Devialet system turns the cabin into a small concert hall. For all the car’s size, nothing feels cluttered. Every detail looks intentional, like someone decided it should be there.
On the Road: Andalusia Meets Torque Vectoring
The drive from Málaga Airport to the Kimpton Los Monteros isn’t demanding unless you make it so. The route runs between azure sea and rugged hillside, with open motorways, sweeping bends and the occasional lorry lumbering along at 40kph. It was the ideal place to meet a car with A110 handling DNA, scaled for real life.
The sat nav, though, had other plans. Google’s EV routing is usually excellent, but Málaga’s tangle of service roads and one-way loops flummoxed it, and more than once I had to overrule it with human judgement. Peace, however, was eventually restored.
Happily, the A390 GT made even the wrong turns enjoyable. You forget you’re in a 2.1-tonne EV, thanks to a bespoke three-motor all-wheel-drive system and Active Torque Vectoring that works like a silent choreographer. The twin rear motors shuffle torque between the wheels, and the result is pure Alpine: lightness through corners, agility well beyond the car’s size, and a playful willingness to rotate when invited. Steering is precise and needs little input, and the Michelin A39 tyres held the winding coastal roads with unruffled confidence. The brakes, 365mm discs with six-piston calipers (a first for Alpine), are delicate at low speed and reassuringly firm when you press on, and the handover from regen to hydraulic is seamless.
Sport mode sharpens everything. The throttle wakes, the steering firms and Alpine Drive Sound adds a faint, satisfying growl, so the car seems to inhale before each surge. Then there’s the red OV button. Press it and you get ten seconds of extra thrust, a motorsport party trick that never stops being thrilling. I pressed it more often than was strictly necessary, and I was grinning every time! With a low centre of gravity and well-judged weight distribution, the car’s mass seems to dissolve beneath you. It simply works, and beautifully.
Dinner in Blue at the Kimpton Los Monteros
The 5-star Kimpton Los Monteros pairs beachside ease with Mediterranean glamour: white stucco, palm-lined walkways, architecture that seems sculpted rather than built. The A390 GT looked at home there, its Bleu Alpine Vision paint glowing against the crisp façade.
That evening’s briefing took place at La Cabane, the hotel’s beach club, over local wine and Andalusian delicacies. CEO Philippe Krief and his team talked about where the A390 GT sits in the Dream Garage and about Alpine’s ambition to grow from niche performance marque into a global luxury name. One detail stood out: the UK is now Alpine’s second-largest market after France, enough to justify an exclusive Premier Edition for British buyers, which is welcome news for anyone on this side of the Channel.
Dinner was properly Andalusian, with paella, cheeses and jamón, and the conversation stayed comfortably on the car’s character rather than its numbers.
Why It Matters
In today's market, buyers at this level want more than specs and speed. They want a story, and the A390 GT has one: motorsport roots and genuine legacy, a build in Dieppe and F1-informed engineering. It also offers a fresh idea of EV “lightness”, not low mass but sensation, in the way it steers, rotates and talks to you. Add the Devialet sound, the sculpted lighting and the detailing, and you get a car with real personality, unmistakably French and a long way from the sameness of many electric crossovers. This is luxury defined by intention rather than excess.
The Future With a French Accent
Driving back towards Málaga Airport the next morning, it struck me what makes the A390 GT so compelling. It isn’t the power, the range or the tech, impressive as they are. It’s that Alpine has made something modern, electric and sophisticated feel genuinely human. A car that wears its heritage proudly and puts joy first. A racing car, yes, in a beautifully tailored suit.
Judging by Alpine’s trajectory, it will become an increasingly familiar sight, especially in the UK, where the brand’s rise shows no sign of slowing.
#Expected to go on sale in the UK in Q1 2026, with deliveries starting Q2. Estimated price around £60,000 - £62,000.
