France’s Alpine is changing. It returned in 2017 after decades away with the A110 sports car—a small, light, brilliantly engaging machine that delighted drivers all over Europe.
Now, Alpine is expanding into the EV space. The Renault 5-based A290 hot hatch offers electric thrills, and the upcoming A390 SUV will mean families can go quick, look good, and not burn any dinosaurs in the process.
Going from one car to many, as well as eyeing an expansion into the US and other territories, is no small feat. As a Euro-centric brand, how will its cars fit into other markets? And how is the company going to design the future?
Motor1 caught up with Head of Design, Antony Villain, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed to learn more.
"I think it’s a pretty exciting time because there’s a big shift in the industry, and having this expansion in such a short time… it’s super challenging," says Villain.
He’s not just talking about the number of cars, but also the size of his design team: "Four years ago, we were a ten-person team, but now, going from one car to more, you need to find talent. It's pretty rare to have the opportunity to build the team almost from scratch." Today, he’s working with a team of 50.
The people Villain was looking for, he said, weren’t simply looking for a job, but for an adventure. There’s a huge talent pool out there, and with a brand growing in so many ways, it seems as though he had the pick of the bunch. He wasn’t looking for people good at just one thing.
"I like to have people who are a bit of a Swiss Army Knife," he says. "People that are able to do a lot of different things: they can design cars, but some are photographers, modellers, filmmakers… others are doing mechanics on their own cars, because in a small team I want everybody to contribute 150 percent above their basic skills."
The reason for this, other than, perhaps, more interesting conversations about what they all got up to on the weekend, is because of what they’ll all be doing. The team isn’t there solely to design cars, but pretty much everything to do with Alpine.
"We work with communication, with marketing. We're doing the merchandising. We're working on Le Mans cars. We are working with Formula One. We are helping with showrooms—I need people who are able to play on any field."
Villain is aware that there’s a lot to come—plenty of cars, branding, merch, the lot—and he knows that it can seem like a tall ask. It’s important, he notes, that the team feels like a family. They’re so close that they’re hosting parties and going on holiday together, apparently.
With a large, talented team in place, Villain’s all set to design the next five, ten, fifteen… however many years of Alpine. But how is he going to do it? The tech available today is leagues ahead of what was on offer even ten years ago.
"We are using old-school technology: clay, pencil sketches," he says. “But at the same time, we’re using AI, all the digital world, VR, AR, daily."
Although AI is a tricky issue in various creative spaces, with a recent MIT study showing that over-reliance on it can rot your brain, Alpine says that it has its place. Villain reckons that those opposed to it will be missing out in years to come.
"The acceleration [of AI] is so strong that you can’t carry on doing things like it used to be. But not everybody will be able to use AI the same way."
'We are using old-school technology: clay, pencil sketches. But at the same time, we’re using AI, all the digital world, VR, AR, daily.'
Much like pen and paper art, not everyone can wrangle it equally, or to the same standard. What’s important to note here is that Villain isn’t suggesting that the Alpine of 2035 will be putting out cars designed by ChatGPT. Instead, he uses it purely as a tool to aid the process.
"You can create a lot of accidents," notes Villain, "And that's a base of creativity. Not only in AI, but in everything you have to create tension, create chaos to get creativity out of it. AI is able to create a kind of visual chaos."
Where once each member of a team would sketch a few wheels a day, and that team would then have a handful to go over, now AI can help generate 2,000. That’s… a lot, but with discipline, you can spot what’s needed and work with it to get the desired result. This is just the beginning of AI’s use in the industry, and deploying it effectively gives design teams like Alpine’s a quicker start.
"It can really give a new dimension to designers, it won’t replace them," adds Villain.
That said, the old-school method still works wonders. Villain notes that while you can train AI to adjust to your style and to help create a key sketch, the pen is still mightier than the processor.
"I let the guys use the tools they want if they deliver the right idea. Sometimes there are guys that just do one sketch [by hand] and that’s the next car."
The next generation of Alpines may have some AI assists to get from laptop to lane, but what will they look like?
Villain notes the overwhelming impact of Chinese OEMs, autonomous tech, and walls of screens, but that’s not what Alpine is about. It’s actually the opposite: “We don't have to follow the trends. So that gives a different position for the brand. We embrace technology, but we’re not using it in the same way. We’re using it for driving and not to be driven.”
Alpine’s expansion to the US is on hold for the moment (two guesses as to why), but when (if) it does go ahead, what will the cars look like? Alpine is a French brand that makes French cars for Europeans, which means even its biggest offering—the upcoming A390 SUV—would be considered a bit small by US standards.
"When you design cars mainly for Europeans, you try to find the best combination in one car. You try to get the coupe, the crossover, the family car, the performance car, into a single object,” says Villain. "When you go to the US, they have more cars dedicated to one usage."
He notes that some people will have a pickup for work, a sports car for fun, car X for purpose Y, etc. However, Alpine’s all-in-one approach might just work because it’s a different proposition: "You’re exotic. You need to keep your Frenchness."
Alpine’s cars will be distinctly Alpine, whether they’re on sale in the US or Europe. They’ll be made for people who want something French, something fun, and something a little different from what’s out there.
And they’ll be designed by a multitalented team… with a bit of AI.
[Quotes in this interview have been edited for length and clarity].
