BMW snaps up famed tuner Alpina
After 60 years of collaboration, famous German tuning house is finally snapped up by BMWAlpina has been bought by the BMW Group, some six decades after the famed German tuner first started providing its first Weber dual-carb conversion for the BMW 1500.
BMW and Alpina's relationship can actually be traced back to 1964 when the car-maker endorsed its fellow Bavarian neighbour's offerings by extending its factory warranty to cover the tuner's under-bonnet upgrades.
The acquisition by BMW of Alpina has been touted by the car-maker as giving it an opportunity to bring "even greater diversity to its own luxury car range", suggesting Alpina will be used as a new sub-brand that will sit above BMW's current offerings.
As part of the deal, BMW will take total control of Alpina from December 31, 2025, at which point production will move from the small Buchloe plant to a factory within the group.
Currently, BMW assembles Alpina models in its own factories before shipping them to the tuner's small facility for final assembly.
Founded back in 1965 by Burkhard Bovensiepen, Alpina has also earned a fine reputation competing in motorsport since the 1970s.
As part of its long-standing collaboration, Alpina has been careful over the years not to tread on BMW M division's toes.
This has seen it roll out less extreme, more comfort-biased and luxurious-orientated performance cars. Some of its most popular models were also powered by diesel.
In the past, Alpina also carried out independent emissions verification for BMW and even developed some core BMW models when resources within the car-maker were stretched.
"We recognised the challenges facing the automotive industry early on and are now setting the right course for Alpina and for our family firm, Bovensiepen," said Andreas Bovensiepen, co-MD of Alpina.
It's not yet been revealed how much BMW paid to purchase Alpina.
Despite the semi-conductor shortage and ongoing effects of COVID, Alpina produced its strongest sales figures ever last year, selling 2000 cars globally.
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Related: Alpina B8 Gran Coupe 2021 Review
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