► Alpine has built a rally-ready version of the A290
► It has a hydraulic handbrake and an FIA roll cage
► Yours for a shade over £51,000 (excluding VAT)
Alpine’s motorsport engineers will soon be quite un-busy. The brand will wind down its F1 engine development at the end of 2025 – and, with the F1 season coming to a close, there’s not much work left to do. So, to save themselves from boredom, Alpine’s best racing minds have been pouring their energy into this: The new A290 Rallye.
As the name suggests, it’s a rally-ready version of the Alpine A290, one of the burgeoning ranks of electric hot hatches. It was designed to conform to the latest rally regulations, while acting as an affordable means for amateur drivers to get started in the sport.
While it made its dynamic debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the A290 Rallye will have its official launch at Rallye de l’Indre on the 8-9 November 2025. It also kicks off a rally series exclusively for owners to compete in. More on that later.
Power and torque are identical to the standard car at 220bhp and 221lb ft, but you get a host of mechanical upgrades to make the platform better suited to the rough and tumble world of rallying. The changes include a ZF limited-slip differential, new dampers from ALP Racing, wider 18-inch EVO Corse wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport A tyres.
The brakes have been upgraded too – the Rallye has new, six-piston monobloc calipers with 350mm discs at the front and single-piston calipers with 280mm discs at the rear.
There are plenty of cosmetic tweaks as well. You get wider wheel arches to cover the fatter wheels and tyres, a deeper front splitter, a matte black bonnet to cut down on a glare and a roof scoop to get some fresh air into the cabin on a sweaty special stage.
Alpine hasn’t neglected the safety gear, either. The interior gets a pair of Sabelt racing seats and a roll cage, both of which conform to current FIA regulations. So, once the brand has confirmed the rally class the A290 Rallye is allowed to compete in, you should be able to rock up to an event in the car as a privateer.
But the best part about the Alpine A290 Rallye is its hydraulic handbrake. As Alpine’s images show, that addition means you’ll be able to back it into corners like Jean Ragnotti. Perhaps my fear about the death of the manual handbrake was premature.
And the price of all this electric lairiness? £51,000 excluding VAT which, for a fully loaded, race-ready rally car doesn’t seem like bad value to us.
To officially launch the A290 Rallye, and to ordain it as a true rally car, Alpine has created an entire race series exclusively for customers competing in their own A290 Rallye. The A290 Trophy will kick off in November 2025 at Rallye de l’Indre with a full season of events rolling out in 2026, when it splits into two series.
The glamping option is the Alpine A290 Trophy. It’s a single-make cup over six events of the French Rally Championship and comes polished with complete Alpine support including onsite engineers, spare parts, and charging facilities plus race suits and Alpine attire.
Meanwhile, the Alpine Regional Trophy is a more grassroots approach. Privateers enter their A290 Rallye independently into regional rallies and hill climbs. Which means no enormous cost commitments of the official championship, but also no comfort blanket.
For now, the A290 Rallye is only available if you fancy competing in the A290 Trophy championship. However, Alpine will be opening orders for regular rally driving punters after the season.
Volumes will be pretty limited though, since each example is made on a request basis and is a hand-built conversion from a regular A290.
And while it hasn’t been officially confirmed that the A290 Rallye will come to the UK, if it does cross the Channel, we’ll have to wait at least a year after French deliveries begin.
Luke is the Deputy Editor of our sister site Parkers, but he spends plenty of time writing news, reviews and features for CAR. He's been a motoring journalist since 2018, learning his craft on the Auto Express news desk before joining the Parkers/CAR team in 2022. When he isn't yoked to his laptop, he's tearing his hair out over his classic Mini restoration project or pinballing around the country attending heavy metal gigs.
With contributions from
Amrit Kaur Staff Writer
By Luke Wilkinson and Amrit Kaur
