The Alpine A290 hot hatch is helping to convert long-time petrolheads to electric power, according to the brand’s UK boss.
The Renault 5-based EV is the first new car under Alpine’s reinvention from a single-model sports car brand into a performance-honed electrified brand. Speaking to the Autocar Meets podcast, Alpine UK chief Nicola Burnside said the reception from UK buyers since the A290 has been launched has exceeded expectations.
“The UK loves a hot hatch,” said Burnside, adding that the A290 has “been adopted by the UK public really quickly and you can see that in the numbers.”
Alpine has sold 1155 cars in the UK so far in 2025, a year-on-year rise of 267%. Burnside said the growth is coming from both existing A110 buyers and newcomers.
“We’ve kept our original customer base, which is a mix of motorsport enthusiasts and petrolheads, and they’re transitioning with us into EVs,” said Burnside. “But we’ve also got a lot of younger customers coming in that are able to access the brand. There are a lot of people from city centres that are focused on an EV product to access those cities. So it’s really broad, which is surprising and really positive.”
The larger A390, a five-seater that Burnside said “offers the speed and agility of the A110”, will be launched in the UK soon and “will enable us to talk to a whole new client base”. That will be followed by a next-generation electric A110.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about Alpine UK’s growth and the importance of motorsport to the brand.
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