Yesterday

Alpine confirms Electric Car Grant for A290

£1,500 off all A290s from today; best get that configuration loaded back up... 

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While the news of the Government’s new Electric Car Grant felt like a step in the right direction, it would be fair to say that few of the qualifying cars did much to tickle the enthusiast pickle. They’d need an awful lot more than a bit of money off to really appeal, put it that way. But now Alpine has confirmed that the A290 qualifies for the second tier of Electric Car Grant, and that’s rather more interesting. Because the Alpine is really very good. 

Though a Band 2 ECG sounds like something you’d have done at the hospital, it means there’s £1,500 off the price of every new A290 from today. It doesn’t meet the sustainability criteria for the full £3,750 off RRP, though at the moment we’re yet to hear of any cars that qualify for that. The Grant means the range now kicks off at £32,000 for the 180hp A290 GT, and applies to every model - even the 220hp GTS that was £37,500, and is now £36,000. As for the other two variants, the 180hp GT Premium and 220hp GT Performance are both now £34,500.

While the price drop isn’t drastic, it’s clearly going to be helpful: paint options on an A290 are £700, £1,050, £1,100 or £1,450, so you could go really fancy (Alpine Vision Blue with a black roof) for effectively no extra money. The optional wheels are £550, so buyers could now get a GT Performance with Nival White paint and the snowflake wheels for less than they would have paid for a standard one last week. The Electric Car Grant is in addition to any existing A290 offers, ‘ensuring the full benefit of the grant is passed directly to customers’. It’ll be a good negotiating tool for those secondhand ones already in the classifieds, too… 

Nicola Burnside, Managing Director of Alpine UK, said: “The A290 is a bold new chapter for Alpine, combining performance, fun and emotion with electric power. The Electric Car Grant makes it even more accessible, and we welcome this positive step by the Government to support the transition to electric vehicles. The A290 represents the future of Alpine – and now is the perfect time to discover it.”

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[bigyoungdave]

To these eyes the standard R5 is aesthetically much better. Somehow Alpine have managed to make it look like a crossover rather than a hot hatch

[Blib]

I saw one a couple of days ago. It certainly has presence. Those 'X' lights(?) Are striking. I like it.

[livinginasia]

I still don’t understand why my taxes are being given to people richer than me so that they can buy a new car.

That Alpine does look lovely though.

[justin220]

Id say the alpine is the only car (maybe a Taycan) that would tempt me into an EV. Looks brilliant.

[Blib]

livinginasia said:

I still don’t understand why my taxes are being given to people richer than me so that they can buy a new car.

That Alpine does look lovely though.

They are saving the planet!

[BunkMoreland]

bigyoungdave said:

To these eyes the standard R5 is aesthetically much better. Somehow Alpine have managed to make it look like a crossover rather than a hot hatch

Its the black arch extensions

[loskie]

I saw one in Salzburg a week and a half ago. Same blue colour. It really looked quite fetching.

So much so that I googled, you tubed it several times afterwards


Quite a decent saving with a Blue Light Card

Edited by loskie on Saturday 9th August 17:14

[v8notbrave]

Vive la Scotland with that front end!

[nismo48]

Blib said:

livinginasia said:

I still don’t understand why my taxes are being given to people richer than me so that they can buy a new car.

That Alpine does look lovely though.

They are saving the planet!

[Harry_523]

livinginasia said:

I still don’t understand why my taxes are being given to people richer than me so that they can buy a new car.

That Alpine does look lovely though.

Is it your taxes though or is it the fines other car companies are paying for selling too many ICE cars?

[Panamax]

I saw one of these on the road for the first time yesterday. Definitely looks like a crossover. If it hadn't had Alpine written on the back I wouldn't have had a clue what it was. The "signature" lights on the front not only looked a bit weird but also gave it an off-road appearance, a bit like an old Vauxhall Frontera.

[themule]

There are so many better ways of using tax payers money to help drivers (or transport more generally) or the environment.

[Wardy78]

livinginasia said:

I still don’t understand why my taxes are being given to people richer than me so that they can buy a new car.

Person with 7 cars in their current fleet, living in Hong Kong complains about people in the UK getting £1,500 grant to persuade them to buy a small, more efficient & less polluting car?

There are loads of things I'm not happy with my taxes being spent on, these grants are a long way down.



Back to the car. I like these, funky, fun. I'm not in the market for an EV, but I can see the attraction of keeping a multi-cylinder ICE for the long term and getting something like this as a run around.

[AlpineA110NL]

Still too expensive.

[MarkosGTV]

bigyoungdave said:

To these eyes the standard R5 is aesthetically much better. Somehow Alpine have managed to make it look like a crossover rather than a hot hatch

Totally agree with this, i see the new R5 and think 'desirable', but I don't with this.

[PBCD]

AlpineA110NL said:

Still too expensive.

How much should it cost, in your opinion?

[C69]

So far, it looks like only Alpine, Citroen, Nissan, Renault, and Vauxhall models have been approved by the government. None qualify for the full Band 1 subsidy (£3,750), therefore they get the lower £1,500 subsidy instead.

https://www.gov.uk/plug-in-vehicle-grants/cars

I wonder if any manufacturers didn't bother applying?

[DeejRC]

So does the standard R5 get this grant then?

[riskyj]

DeejRC said:

So does the standard R5 get this grant then?

Yes

[vaud]

bigyoungdave said:

To these eyes the standard R5 is aesthetically much better. Somehow Alpine have managed to make it look like a crossover rather than a hot hatch

I agree. The R5 in yellow or blue looks excellent, one of the best cars from Renault for a long time. It just looks fun.