After our DVN Munich event last month, I visited SP3 in Egmating – that’s Schurer Projekte Prototypen Produkte. I have known Mathias Rönnfeldt for some time, even before he joined SP3, and it was a pleasure to meet Leon Schurer, SP3’s Managing Director.
SP3 are a family-owned company, with around 40 employees and a strong reputation in Southern Germany’s vehicle lighting ecosystem. They’re well known for prototyping excellence, and have built up engineering capabilities in innovation, pre-development and small-series production.
SP3 have developed strategic technology partnerships with high-tech tier-2s including Kurz, Reichle Technologiezentrum, Berlac, Swarovski Mobility, the ISOLED alliance, and TactoTek. This positions SP3 as a practical bridge between OEMs and technology providers: supporting innovation, pre-development and development projects.
Founded in 2002 as a prototyping specialist, SP3 have steadily expanded their capabilities into visualization, electronics, smart surface technologies, optical development, and UX-related development integrated into prototyping.
By combining electronics, R&D capabilities, virtual rendering, and a strong partner network, SP3 can develop demo boards such as the examples shown here, including PUR prototypes, electronics and control boxes:
One example of SP3’s capabilities is rear lamp pre-development for the BMW Neue Klasse show car. Their work spans the full path from concept and design intent to 3D CAD, optical design, virtual prototyping and rendering, through to functional prototypes including electronics, welcome sequences, and UX interface.
SP3 can also support small-series production. Since 2016, for example, they produce exterior mirror indicators and interior lighting components for the Bugatti Chiron.
Working in advanced design phases has led SP3 to develop distinctive capabilities tailored to OEM and tier-1 studio requirements, including:
- Coloured PUR using silicone tooling to replicate coloured PMMA in prototyping
- Parts with PC-like transmissivity, made in PUR and silicone tooling instead of traditional PMMA milled blocks, reducing the gap between prototype appearance and the final product
- Simulation and validation of graining optical properties, in collaboration with Reichle Technologiezentrum, to improve the correlation between simulation, prototype and mass-production results
- Surface and coating innovations including advanced paint and surface-coating solutions
- Management of colour shift in film-based solutions, in collaboration with Kurz, addressing a well-known challenge discussed during the DVN Munich film session:
SP3 also are working on AI-driven lighting scenario generation. Their proprietary algorithm processes multiple real-time data streams, including geographic location, weather conditions and occupant biometrics, to generate adaptive lighting scenarios. Instead of relying on predefined sequences, the system creates responsive combinations that adjust to vehicle and occupant states, using light to create a dynamic, living environment to enhance well-being and the driving experience:
