- The small but highly respected German tuner Alpina has been making their own versions of BMWs for a long time.
- Now the firm is being absorbed into the BMW corporate universe after 57 years of independent partnership.
- Development of new versions of the BMW Alpina will be completed at the company’s headquarters in Buchloe, Germany after 2025, but that doesn’t mean the best for the BMW-owned brand has yet to come.
Alpina has long been a notable exception among major German automakers in terms of size and scope. The tuner was born out of an unlikely diversification from office equipment to high performance BMW parts. The symbiotic relationship grew to the point that Alpina created its own versions of BMW models with the consent of the larger company, even getting early access to future cars to allow it to plan its options. In the United States, Alpina distributed models such as the well-received XB7 through BMW, but elsewhere the two companies were, at least nominally, in direct competition.
But it’s all coming to an end, with news that BMW is set to take full control of Alpina, ending a 57-year partnership and seemingly ceasing development and production of new variants at Alpina’s Buchloe, Germany plant after 2025. It looks like There are two reasons behind this, the first of which is the growing challenge of overcoming increasingly difficult barriers to compliance. “The politically motivated transition to electric mobility, as well as tightening regulations around the world, especially with regard to vehicle emissions, software validation and protection requirements for driver assistance and control systems, means that the requirements and risks for small producers are increasing,” Alpina said. in his official statement.
When we spoke to Alpina CEO Andeas Bovensiepen at the XB7’s 2020 European launch, he admitted that electrification was a huge challenge that would be difficult for a small company to overcome.
The second reason, paradoxically, is the growing success of Alpina. Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 was the company’s most successful year to date, with more than 2,000 vehicles delivered worldwide. BMW clearly sees the potential for further growth in this number and probably also for integrating Alpina into its broader portfolio in a similar fashion to the company’s own M division. (While the short description of M is pure performance, Alpina has always paired speed with enhanced luxury.)
Alpina’s official plan is to continue producing versions of existing (and future) BMW models in Bukhloe until 2025, after which the brand will be fully taken over by corporate Borg. We assume that at this point, development and production will be carried out at the facilities of BMW. The Bovensiepen family will also create a new company bearing their name that will continue to work with classic cars (still BMW, we believe), but will also offer engineering and consulting services to other automakers as well as BMW.
Alpina 3.0 CSL 1971.
Alpina
We hope there will be more interesting Alpina-branded cars in the future, but we also regret the passing of such an interesting independent company, especially one that created such an art of automotive pinstriping.
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