BRP opens first European Design and Innovation Center
BRP has announced the opening of its first European Design and Innovation Center located in Sophia Antipolis, a technology park in southern France.
“We have a strong base in North America for us to capture trends emerging in some of the cities [here], but now we have a team that will be able to capture the trends emerging in Europe,” says Denys Lapointe, chief design officer, BRP. “And the solutions may differ even though the needs may be somewhat similar. We’re looking at this in full spectrum, from human assisted power, all the way to cars.”
The European center will allow BRP to enrich its current product lines and to study consumer observations to better understand the needs of BRP customers. “We believe that BRP is in a good position with the center to increase and capture trends emerging from the European market and really come up with new product architectures that are in sync with those consumer needs,” Lapointe says.
Tucked in the mountains near the Mediterranean Sea, the center provides inspiring elements for designers and Lapointe explains that it will attract talent from the powersports, motorcycle and car industry. It is fully functional and consists of a team of 12 working in tandem with the company’s Canadian and Florida studios.
Seven nationalities are represented in the Studio, including Japan, the U.S., Brazil, Canada, Italy, China and France. Lapointe is excited to bring different cultures together to offer different perspectives and strengthen what BRP offers.
The center will be dedicated to studying sustainable mobility in line with BRP’s global electrification strategy. The company committed to a technological transition, aiming to offer electric models in each of its existing product lines and to have 50 percent of its units sold to be electric by 2035 with its CSR25 program.
“If you think of urban mobility, and in a continuum from human powered products all the way to the car, there’s all kinds of products that can be rethought or adapted for the emerging needs of consumers,” Lapointe says. “Looking into other alternatives for urban mobility implies that we are going to bring new product families and new product. So, expect new things from BRP.”
A recent press release states, “In addition to its work on advanced concepts related to sustainable mobility, the team will provide design services to internal BRP partners in Europe and Scandinavia.”
