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2027 Alpine A110 EV Prototype Previews an Electric Sports Car That Refuses to Forget What Made the Original Great

The gasoline-powered Alpine A110 has taken its final bow. After eight years in production and 28,701 examples built, the lightweight French coupe has officially rolled off the assembly line in Dieppe for the last time, bringing the second-generation model to a close. But Alpine isn’t letting its most celebrated nameplate fade into history.

Instead, it’s reinventing it.

Meet the A110 Future—a development prototype that previews the third-generation A110 due to arrive in 2027. While it wears familiar bodywork, this isn’t simply yesterday’s sports car with a battery stuffed where the engine used to live. Underneath, Alpine has started with a clean sheet of paper, developing an entirely new electric sports car around its dedicated Alpine Performance Platform (APP).

And unlike many manufacturers making the leap to electrification, Alpine insists it isn’t willing to sacrifice the characteristics that made the A110 such a standout in the first place.

At first glance, the prototype doesn’t appear radically different from the outgoing coupe. That’s intentional. Like many early test mules, it combines existing body panels with new hardware hidden beneath. Look closer, though, and the changes become obvious. Wider fenders hint at substantially broader front and rear tracks, while the familiar rear-mounted 1.8-liter turbocharged four-cylinder—an engine whose roots trace back to the Renault Megane RS—has disappeared entirely.

In its place are two electric motors driving the rear wheels.

Keeping rear-wheel drive rather than adopting the increasingly common all-wheel-drive layout suggests Alpine remains committed to preserving the playful handling balance that has defined the A110 since its revival in 2017. The dual-motor setup promises significantly more torque than the outgoing gasoline model, although Alpine has yet to reveal power figures.

The real engineering story, however, lies beneath the floor.

Rather than installing a conventional skateboard battery stretching from axle to axle, Alpine has developed a split battery arrangement positioned toward the rear of the chassis. The goal is to achieve a 40:60 front-to-rear weight distribution, helping the electric coupe maintain the agility expected of a proper driver’s car.

Weight, of course, remains the elephant in every EV sports car discussion.

The outgoing A110 tipped the scales at just 1,102 kilograms (2,430 pounds), making it one of the lightest sports cars on sale. Matching that figure with a battery-powered replacement borders on impossible, but Alpine appears determined to keep the increase under control. The company says the battery uses high-energy-density cells combined with a cell-to-pack design that integrates the cells directly into the battery structure, reducing unnecessary mass and improving packaging efficiency.

The platform itself also relies heavily on aluminum, while an all-aluminum suspension is designed to trim every unnecessary kilogram.

Efficiency has received equal attention. Alpine confirms the A110 Future uses a silicon carbide (SiC) inverter, allowing greater power density while reducing electrical losses and weight. An 800-volt electrical architecture also forms part of the package, promising the kind of ultra-fast DC charging increasingly becoming standard among high-performance EVs.

If Alpine’s engineering ambitions sound lofty, its marketing claims go even further.

The company describes the upcoming A110 as “the world’s first true electric sports car” and says it will possess everything necessary to outperform today’s finest internal-combustion sports cars. Those are bold promises in a segment populated by machines with decades of development behind them, but Alpine has built its reputation on prioritizing handling finesse over outright horsepower.

If it can translate that philosophy into the electric era, the new A110 could become one of the few EVs that enthusiasts genuinely want to drive rather than simply admire on a specification sheet.

The production model remains several years away, and Alpine continues to keep most of the technical details under wraps. Exact output, battery capacity, driving range, acceleration figures, and curb weight all remain unanswered questions.

Still, the direction is becoming clear.

The next A110 won’t attempt to imitate its predecessor by pretending batteries don’t exist. Instead, Alpine is embracing electrification while engineering around its biggest compromises. Rear-wheel drive, careful weight distribution, lightweight materials, and chassis-first development suggest the company understands that sports cars are defined by feel as much as speed.

The A110 Future will make its public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed next week before evolving into the production model scheduled to reach customers in 2027. Beyond that, Alpine has already confirmed plans for a larger 2+2 electric sports coupe that will revive the A310 name for the first time since 1984.

For a company built on lightweight driving machines, the electric era represents its biggest challenge yet. Whether the next A110 becomes the benchmark Alpine promises remains to be seen—but at least it appears determined to tackle that challenge on its own terms.

Source: Alpine

News

Kids Turn Ferrari 488 GTB Into a Playground Slide, Owner Sues Parents After $4,300 Damage Bill

Owning an exotic car comes with plenty of expected risks—stone chips, careless parking, and the occasional overenthusiastic admirer. Few Ferrari owners, however, expect their six-figure supercar to become neighborhood playground equipment.

That’s exactly what happened to the owner of a Ferrari 488 GTB in Kunming, China, who has now filed a civil lawsuit against the parents of four children accused of using the Italian supercar as an impromptu jungle gym.

The incident occurred in late May after four neighborhood boys, reportedly all under the age of 10, discovered the Rosso Red Ferrari parked in an open area. Security camera footage that later circulated on social media shows the children climbing onto the car, sitting on the windshield, walking across the roof, and sliding down the rear glass as if it were playground equipment. At one point, the exposed engine beneath the rear window appeared to capture their attention, while bamboo poles were also seen making contact with the bodywork.

When the owner returned from a business trip, he found the consequences of their curiosity scattered across nearly every panel. According to local reports, the Ferrari suffered deep scratches to the hood, roof, fenders, taillights, and glass, while the front bumper was also cracked.

Given Ferrari’s famously expensive repair costs, the owner chose not to send the car to an official dealership. He estimated factory repairs would have exceeded 100,000 yuan (about $14,700). Instead, he took the 488 GTB to an independent body shop, where aftermarket replacement parts helped reduce the final repair bill to 29,360 yuan—roughly $4,300.

Armed with repair invoices, the owner met the children’s parents twice at a local police station in hopes of reaching a settlement. According to the South China Morning Post, the parents offered just 5,000 yuan (around $730) in compensation and reportedly did not bring the children to apologize for the damage.

The negotiations quickly stalled.

Unwilling to accept the reduced offer, the Ferrari owner has now filed a civil lawsuit seeking reimbursement for the full cost of the repairs.

Under Chinese law, children younger than 14 cannot be subjected to administrative detention, meaning civil litigation is effectively the only legal avenue available for property owners seeking compensation from a child’s legal guardians.

The damaged car is no ordinary sports car. Produced between 2015 and 2020, the Ferrari 488 GTB marked a major milestone for Maranello by replacing the naturally aspirated 458 Italia with a 3.9-liter twin-turbocharged V8 producing 670 horsepower. It was later succeeded by the F8 Tributo before Ferrari transitioned to hybrid power with the 296 GTB.

According to the owner, he purchased the Ferrari new for 3.6 million yuan—approximately $530,000—and, until this incident, it had never suffered so much as a scratch.

For most owners, protecting a Ferrari means avoiding potholes, parking far away from shopping carts, and keeping up with meticulous maintenance. Few would think to add “playground supervision” to the list.

Source: South China Morning Post via YouTube

NEW CARS

McMurtry Spéirling Pure

For the past few years, the McMurtry Spéirling has been the electric hypercar that seemed to ignore the laws of physics. It climbed the hill at Goodwood faster than Formula 1 machinery, demolished lap records, and became famous for generating more downforce at a standstill than most supercars produce at triple-digit speeds. Now, the tiny British company behind those headline-grabbing performances has finally revealed the production version, and it appears the road from prototype to customer car hasn’t dulled its edge one bit.

Meet the McMurtry Spéirling Pure.

At first glance, it looks nearly identical to the record-setting prototype. Underneath the compact carbon-fiber bodywork, however, the company says the production model is almost entirely new, with 95 percent of its components redesigned or replaced. The updates go well beyond durability and manufacturability, bringing improvements to the battery, powertrain, cooling system, chassis, and even cockpit ergonomics.

The most significant change comes in the battery department. The original 60.0-kWh pack has made way for a much larger 100.0-kWh unit, giving the Spéirling Pure enough energy to sustain repeated high-performance sessions instead of just delivering eye-opening acceleration runs. McMurtry says the car can complete between 40 and 50 kilometers of flat-out driving at LMP2 race pace before requiring a recharge—a remarkable claim considering the level of performance on offer.

Performance, unsurprisingly, remains the headline act.

The Pure is powered by a pair of electric motors producing a combined 986 horsepower, with every bit of it sent exclusively to the rear wheels. Despite lacking all-wheel drive, McMurtry claims the Spéirling Pure rockets from 0 to 100 km/h in just 1.55 seconds, putting it in territory occupied by purpose-built drag racers rather than conventional hypercars.

As astonishing as those numbers are, straight-line speed isn’t what makes the Spéirling unique.

That distinction belongs to the car’s active downforce system. Two high-speed fans mounted beneath the chassis work alongside sealed skirts to create more than 2,000 kilograms of downforce from zero speed. Unlike traditional wings and diffusers that require airflow to become effective, the McMurtry’s fan-assisted system delivers maximum grip the instant the car begins moving.

It’s a concept famously explored by racing cars decades ago, but McMurtry has refined it into something suitable for customer ownership. The twin-fan arrangement also introduces redundancy—if one fan were to fail, the second continues generating substantial suction, maintaining stability and giving the driver an additional margin of safety.

That aerodynamic advantage pays dividends everywhere. According to McMurtry, the Spéirling Pure is capable of generating up to 3G under braking and while cornering, levels of acceleration normally reserved for elite single-seater race cars. It also shortens stopping distances significantly, even in situations where the driver loses control, because the fan-generated downforce remains effective regardless of vehicle speed.

The engineering changes extend beyond outright performance. McMurtry says the carbon-fiber monocoque now complies with global motorsport safety standards while simultaneously offering more elbow and legroom inside the cockpit—a welcome improvement in a car whose dimensions remain extraordinarily compact.

Keeping such a machine running between track sessions has also been considered. Recharge times vary between roughly 20 and 60 minutes depending on charger output and ambient temperatures, meaning owners won’t necessarily spend an entire afternoon waiting to return to the circuit.

Exclusivity, meanwhile, is guaranteed.

McMurtry plans to build just 100 examples of the Spéirling Pure, each carrying a starting price of approximately $1.3 million. Buyers can also purchase factory-backed support for racing and track-day events, underscoring the company’s intention for these cars to be driven rather than displayed.

And there will be plenty of places to drive them. McMurtry says the Spéirling Pure will be eligible for GT1 Sports Club events and Global Time Attack competitions in the United States, while European owners will be able to compete in the Time Attack Masters championship.

Most electric hypercars promise breathtaking acceleration. The McMurtry Spéirling Pure promises something far rarer: a completely different understanding of what mechanical grip feels like. With nearly 1,000 horsepower, almost instantaneous acceleration, and a fan system capable of pinning the car to the asphalt before aerodynamic wings even wake up, the production Spéirling doesn’t merely chase performance records—it redefines the physics behind them.

Source: McMurtry Automotive

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