There is a specific moment when the future stops being a promise and starts making noise. For Alpine, that moment arrived on July 9, 2026, when the Alpine A110 FUTURE tackled the famous hillclimb at the Goodwood Festival of Speed for the very first time in public. Behind the wheel was none other than Pierre Gasly, driver for the BWT Alpine Formula One Team, joined by an exceptional passenger: the Duke of Richmond, founder of the festival itself. It was a global dynamic debut that turned this development mule for the third generation A110 from a laboratory exercise into a roaring statement of the electric sports car that is coming.
Gasly behind the wheel: a show on the world’s most famous hill
The French driver didn’t hide his enthusiasm after his run up the hill. Being among the first to drive the future of the brand, in front of a crowd of passionate fans, is a rare privilege even for someone who races in Formula 1 for a living. The message Gasly wanted to send was precise and clear: an electric sports car can be lighter, sharper, and more fun to drive than common assumptions might suggest.
The A110 FUTURE is not a pedestal show car. It is the rolling test bed for the Alpine Performance Platform, the modular architecture that will underpin the successor to the Dieppe built berlinetta. According to the manufacturer, that successor is meant to become the first genuine electric sports car in the world, one capable of beating the best combustion powered sports cars without betraying the brand’s DNA.
The Alpine Performance Platform: technology that changes the rules
The real story unfolds beneath the bodywork. The configuration shown at Goodwood previews the future two seat coupe, and it uses a solution that is as unusual as it is clever: a dual battery pack split between the front and rear axles. Energy is distributed 25 percent at the front and 75 percent at the rear, a choice designed to preserve the current A110’s overall height, its notably low driving position, and a cabin able to comfortably fit drivers of any size.
The system runs on 800 volt architecture with cell to pack technology spread across two levels, all housed inside a high pressure die cast aluminum enclosure that also contributes directly to the car’s structural rigidity. At the rear sits a dual electric motor setup using 3 in 1 machines, silicon carbide inverters, and a permanent magnet design capable of spinning up to 21,500 rpm. The result is instant, independent control over each wheel, complete with its own dedicated sound generated by the motors themselves.
Torque Vectoring 2.0: an obsession with agility
The true dynamic signature of the future electric A110 is called Active Torque Vectoring 2.0, working alongside Wheel Slip Torque Control. Together, these two systems fight understeer both on turn in and mid corner, managing load transfer and torque during acceleration and lift off. All of this is part of a broader control suite that also covers braking, steering, and battery thermal management, built to adapt to both rear wheel drive and all wheel drive configurations that the platform will eventually support.
Behind the scenes, development runs largely through simulation. DiM250, Alpine’s driver in the loop simulator built around an actual A110 cockpit with a nine meter conical screen and a hexapod motion platform, has already logged more than 45,000 virtual kilometers across chassis tuning, powertrain calibration, and tire development. This method cuts down on physical prototypes and speeds up development time without sacrificing precision.
Alpine’s biggest presence ever, spanning Le Mans 1978 to Formula 1
The 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed also marks the largest lineup Alpine has ever brought to the British event. Alongside the A110 FUTURE, the hill sees generations of the berlinetta, the A390 sport fastback, the A290 electric hot hatch, and special edition versions of the current A110. Then there is history with a capital H: the legendary A442B, powered by a 2 liter V6 and winner of the 1978 24 Hours of Le Mans, along with the E20 Formula 1 car from 2012, with its screaming V8 featured in live demonstration runs.
Rounding out the lineup is a driver roster including Gasly, Franco Colapinto, Paul Aron, Alex Dunne, and Nina Gademan, all taking part in track demonstrations, fan meetups, and autograph sessions. Goodwood’s hill has seen half a century of legends pass through it. From July 9 to 12, among those legends, runs Alpine’s electric future as well.
