Alpine Could Come To The U.S. With A Porsche Cayenne EV Rival, But It Probably Won't

At one point, Alpine had its sights set on coming to the U.S. in 2027. Well, that plan is pretty much dead and buried, thanks mostly to tariffs put in place by the Trump administration, but it hasn't given up hope on a U.S. entry just yet. In an interview with Auto Express, Alpine CEO Philippe Krief said the small French automaker could still come out way with the all-electric A110 sports car and a large performance SUV, meant to take on the Porsche Cayenne EV. That being said, he admits there are now no firm plans to enter the U.S. market.

"We will be ready to go to the US with APP. We need to go to the US with A110 because this is the heart of Alpine. But in the US, maybe, it won't be enough for dealers and our partners to sell. And maybe we need to have something more. The thought we had one year ago was a big SUV," Krief told Auto Express. "Now we are back in the phase of thinking what we need for the US market."

He added that the brand needs a model that'll sell at higher volumes, but there needs to be a balance between that type of vehicle and one that isn't "outside the DNA of the brand." Of course, Alpine has only ever produced gas-powered sports cars, so hitting on the company's DNA with an electric crossover is going to be a tough ask.

If Alpine is indeed planning to bring over a Cayenne EV fighter to the U.S., we certainly haven't seen it yet. Right now, the biggest vehicle the automaker sells is the A390 electric crossover, and it's pretty damn small — smaller than a Macan. In fact, Alpine calls it a "sports fastback," according to Auto Express. It's only a centimeter taller than the A290 hot hatch and has limited rear seat space. Though it's probably a hoot to drive thanks to its 446-horsepower tri-motor all-wheel-drive setup.

From what it sounds like, Alpine's plan would be to bring some of the A390's zest to a bigger SUV, possibly called the A590. However, that name is unofficial and unconfirmed.

"Certainly, we will never travel from that. The A390 feels like an SUV that is completely different," Krief told Auto Express. "This is something we need to guarantee and if we are not able to do a car with this kind of feeling, we won't do the car."

The new electric A110 runs on Alpine's bespoke APP platform, unlike the A390, which runs on a heavily modified version of Renault's AmpR medium platform. Right now, it doesn't underpin anything bigger than the Nissan Ariya and A390, but Renault has previously said it has the capacity to work with cars that have up to seven seats.

I really dig what Alpine has been doing. I mean, the A110 is such a cool little sports car. It would be great to see a French automaker come to the U.S., but, with tariffs the way they are, I'm not sure it's in the cards. That's too bad. Here's to hoping.