Alpine's Hydrogen-Powered Alpenglow Could Hit The Streets

Alpine, Renault's performance arm, is working on a hydrogen strategy to revive the internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. Antony Villain, Alpine's design manager, told Autocar that Alpine built the Alpenglow as a production vehicle, not as a showpiece.

The concept car's engine is a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, while a larger V-6 is currently in development. It will be more potent than the 340 horsepower the four-cylinder provides. Small batches might produce a street-legal version with a smaller internal combustion engine.

Villain said, "Why not?" in response to a question about the Alpenglow's potential to go into production. "Why not have that on the roads? We want to keep both ways [hydrogen ICE and EV] possible. Maybe we could do a little series of these cars for the road. That could be just right." The current Alpenglow model is an update on a 2022 concept with the same name; the go-faster branch of Renault is hard at work on a third iteration that will be more in line with the production version.

Because it did not participate in its first test at the Spa-Francorchamps track in Belgium, the latest version of the sports car got off to a shaky start. An electrical problem, not the internal combustion engine, was to blame. Currently, Alpenglow is replacing the original idea's unique chassis with a Ligier LMP3 chassis. Later this year, the new V-6 will replace the older, smaller engine.

Recently, Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo dropped hints about producing the Alpenglow during the AGM. Although the A110 will remain unavailable for the foreseeable future, Luca de Meo announced a revitalization of the lineup, expanding it to seven models. One hundred percent electric vehicles, with the possibility of hydrogen-powered vehicles, will make up the fleet.

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