Alpine A390_β – A concentrate of French innovation.
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Behind the scenes of the design of the A390_β, the show car of the future A390 sport fastback launched by Alpine in 2025.
The presentation of a show car like the A390_β, a pure concentrate of performance and technology, is a particularly powerful moment for the Alpine brand. It is tangible proof of the level of excellence to which the future production model will be held.
It also represents several opportunities for the team, such as discussing and testing new materials, deepening the use of materials that are strong identifiers for the brand, like carbon, or testing new manufacturing methods. Alpine has chosen to call on specialist partners, true craftsmen of various materials, whose unique know-how contributes to making this show car an exceptional object.
Let’s take a closer look at two first-rate French suppliers, Erpro Group and Lavoisier Composites, who’s expertise enhances the Alpine A390_β show car.
Renault Group
A390_β – A palette of innovative materials.
The design of a show car is certainly one of the most important moments in a new model’s development schedule for Alpine’s design teams. Not only is it the culmination of months of conceptual work, but it’s also a fantastic opportunity to break free from industrial rules and push the envelope on every aspect of the vehicle.
For Stéphanie Petit, Alpine’s Chief Designer Color & Materials, it’s also an essential research period to source materials that are aligned with the brand’s values (light, resistant, sustainable) and that can be used in future Alpine production models.
These values guide her teams in their search for partners with the expertise, technological capabilities and flexibility to work and modulate these new materials to meet the requirements of the A390_β project.


“Working closely with manufacturers close to our design center, who share Alpine’s values and possess unrivalled know-how, is a powerful driver for injecting ever more innovation into our future vehicles.”
Stéphanie Petit
Chief Designer Color & Material Alpine
As each show car is a unique creation, with parts and components made entirely to measure, Alpine has chosen to work with French partners for several reasons: the high standards and attention to detail that define French craftsmen, access to state-of-the-art equipment, and geographical proximity that facilitates workshops and shipping.
For the A390_β, two French manufacturers have been chosen to develop essential elements of the show car: Erpro Group for the headrests and various 3D printed parts, and Lavoisier Composites for the floor.

“The A390_ β is defined by equally by its audacity and advanced tech. Having a privileged access to agile, specialized partners is a real asset for our design teams, who can test and improve their creations on an ongoing basis. These collaborations allow us to build on each other’s strengths to create objects that are unique in the world.”
Marc Poulain
Chief Advance Designer
Erpro Group, intricate design solved with 3D printing
The interior of the A390_β is deliberately conceptual, allowing designers to hint at a futuristic vision of Alpine interiors while retaining the brand’s fundamentals. Marc Poulain, Chief Advance Designer Alpine, imagined an overall symbolism inspired by the Alps, with technical materials at the draw inspiration from a Formula 1 cockpit. The front seat evokes lightness, a notion amplified by the choice of materials: the seat is a carbon shell, while the headrest is created as a flexible structure housed in a transparent element that appears to be carved from ice. This headrest presents a number of constraints: made as a single piece, with a high transparency effect, it must be light, solid, yet breathable and flexible in the event of impact.
Faced with this complexity, Alpine design turned to Erpro Group, the French leader in 3D printing, which develops cutting-edge prototypes for the automotive, aerospace and luxury sectors. Cyrille Vue, CEO and founder of the company, sees his teams as digital craftsmen who turn the most complex designs into reality for their customers.

In the early stages, Cyrille and his designer, Vincent Rigommier, searched for the ideal material. Aware that only 3D printing would enable them to produce a headrest perfectly representative of the designs they had received, they focused on a bio-sourced elastomer, Arkema's Pebax® Rnew®, produced in part from castor seeds. They then printed several samples to find the ideal thickness, so that the material would appear very light while retaining strength and flexibility. It took more than three weeks of full-time work and several meetings with Stéphanie and the Alpine Design teams to come up with the two spectacular headrests for the A390_B, a world first for this type of process in a vehicle.

“Our main objective is to support our customers in their desire to innovate. By letting them benefit from all Erpro Group’s expertise in 3D printing, we enable them to create parts they’ve never made before.”
Cyrille Vue
CEO Erpro Group
Lavoisier Composites, giving a second life to cutting-edge materials.
Although the floor of a vehicle may seem purely functional, Marc Poulain and his teams wanted to make it an essential element in the design of the A390_β's interior, to accentuate the sensation of speed, very present in the show car.
To achieve this, Alpine design contacted Lavoisier Composites, a Lyon-based start-up specializing in the development and manufacture of eco-sourced composite parts. The company, named after Antoine Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, is driven by the scientist's motto, “nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed”. Following this principle, it works hand in hand with the aeronautical and photovoltaic industries to enhance by-product deposits and create innovative composite materials and parts. Manufacturing processes such as compression molding, enable them to use materials with a high carbon fiber content to obtain highly specific geometries.
To respect the mineral aesthetics of the basalt effect intended by the design team, the Lavoisier Composites engineers have produced a floor made up of a multitude of triangular-section elements whose facets reveal the depth of the carbon and the brilliance of the silicon. This exclusive creation is based entirely on the 3D model imagined by Alpine's designers.
In addition to the aesthetic value of the floor, Lavoisier Composites also gives Alpine the opportunity to work with sustainable materials and show that another path in the industry is possible. Thanks to a unique know-how in the re-use of high-performance materials, it is possible to manufacture structural parts with a low environmental impact.
“Our main objective is to support our customers in their desire to innovate. By letting them benefit from all Erpro Group’s expertise in 3D printing, we enable them to create parts they’ve never made before.”
Esteban Villalon
CEO of Lavoisier Composites
Strength in unity
By working with innovative partners such as Erpro Group and Lavoisier Composites, Alpine reinforces its expertise in exceptional materials and pushes the boundaries of design while challenging its manufacturing processes. An essential mindset for a manufacturer in constant evolution.