Alpine A290 pictured dancing on ice ahead of June reveal

Alpine has released new images of its A290 hot hatch undergoing winter testing.

The camouflaged prototypes are being put through their paces near the Arctic Circle in Sweden ahead of the car’s full unveiling in June.

The tests are intended to ensure that the compact hatchback delivers the dynamic driving experience owners want from an electric hot hatch. Alpine says the “utmost attention” is being given to tuning the motor’s responsiveness and the chassis agility to deliver driving precision and “brio”.

With temperatures in Lapland as low as -30 degrees, the performance of the car’s more mundane features, including heating and stability control are also being testing in cold and snowy conditions.

Alpine still isn’t sharing technical specs of the A290 but has confirmed a few more details. For a start, we know the final car will be 3.99m by 1.82m – shorter and wider than a Renualt Zoe. We also know that the wild three-seat configuration of the original concept car has been ditched in favour of a regular five-seat set up. In front of the driver is a ‘motorsport-inspired’ Alcantara-wrapped steering wheel with a flat surface and one-touch access to three driving modes apparently borrowed from Alpine’s Formula 1 steering wheels – Overtake, Recharge and Drive.

The firm also announced that Michelin has developed three bespoke tyres for the A290, including a cold-weather compound and two summer options – one optimised for efficiency and the other focused on maximisising performance.

Philippe Krief, CEO of Alpine said: “Our A290 – the future compact B-segment electric sports car – is currently being tested in the extreme and demanding conditions of Sweden’s Lapland. The target of this important stage is to confirm the direction we have taken with handling and agility, which is part of our DNA on low grip conditions.

“To fine-tune its development so that it can be effective in all circumstances and all-weather conditions, the winter development stage of the A290 is crucial as it is a completely new car. Our engineering team has scrutinised all the criteria, and the results bode extremely well for its launch in the coming months.”