Alpine Is Taking A Hydrogen-Combustion Sports Car To Spa-Francorchamps Next Month

Perhaps embarrassed by its F1 team’s poor form this season, Alpine is really leaning into its brand new World Endurance Championship Hypercar programme this year to show off what its road car division is up to.

Just days after confirming that the electric A290 hot hatch will debut ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, the company has announced that it’ll be running the Alpenglow, its concept for a hydrogen-combustion powered supercar, for three demo laps ahead of the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in May.

Originally revealed as a concept at the Paris Motor Show in 2022, little detail was given about the Alpenglow beyond the fact that it had a hydrogen combustion engine – in other words, a traditional internal combustion engine that runs on hydrogen rather than an electric vehicle powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Toyota has experimented with similar tech in recent years.

Alpine says this version of the Alpenglow will have an “all-new design,” and based on the sketch it’s provided, it looks like some of the original car’s concept car flourishes will be unsurprisingly toned down. Just what engine it’s running is still anyone’s guess. Perhaps a modified version of the 1.8-litre turbo four from the A110?

Alpine has promised the introduction of seven all-new, 100 per cent electric models by 2030, the first of which will be the A290. The A110, meanwhile, is set to stick around until 2026, when safety regulations will make it unsaleable and it’ll get its own EV replacement.

The Alpenglow, however, suggests that Alpine, like several other performance manufacturers, isn’t hedging all of its bets on electricity as the only solution for its future cars. If hydrogen combustion tech can filter down for use on a proper lightweight sports car like the A110, then we’re very much on board.