Alpina, or Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen GmbH & Co. KG (which is a ridiculously long name by the way) was founded by Burkard Bovensiepen in 1965, in Buchloe, Germany. It all started in 1962 when Bovensiepen developed a dual carburettor for the BMW 1500, it was well received by the public, as well as BMW itself. Burkard was successful in the stock market, he decided to plough his capital into establishing a tuning company named Alpina to continue his tuning success with BMW.
Alpina essentially sell their own luxury versions of BMW cars. It isn’t your standard aftermarket car modification company, as it is actually integrated into the BMW manufacturing lines. They make small numbered batches, manufacturing modified BMW’s, the main differentiation being the engine. The engines are hand built at the Alpina facility and shipped to BMW for assembly. After the vehicle is assembled, it is sent to Alpina for the final additions.
Alpina is essentially for the understated man or woman (we are not prejudice over here) who has enough money to buy a house in today’s housing climate. Let’s just say, just like with houses, a millennial can’t afford one (but then again millennials can’t afford a standard BMW, I just wanted to make a funny quip get off my back). Alpina’s cost a similar amount to a standard BMW, However after you have played around with speccing it there is quite a large difference. They actually only look subtly different to BMW’s the main difference owing to the legendary wheels, tasteful body-kit and optional Alpina side stripe.
Where you do see the main differences is what’s hiding in the engine bay. Alpina engines are hand-assembled, the parts are manufactured in-house, even the parts from the suppliers are inspected for quality prior to assembly. Alpina pride themselves in fuel efficiency, owing to the fact that they mainly use diesel engines.
The interior is exquisite, Alpina has its own in-house upholstery workshop and you can tell. When you buy a car you have the option to keep the standard BMW interior, but please don’t. Pay the money and get the handcrafted interior, you can literally ask for whatever you want. Do you want a picture of your girlfriends mother on the headrest? Well you probably can, but I suggest you visit a psychiatrist beforehand (if you want a good one I know a guy). But seriously, you can make the interior as bespoke as you please, you can change the instrument clusters, the steering wheel and even the trim, you just have to have the cash.
What completes the limited edition car package? That’s right it is the plaque. What limited edition object would be right without a plaque? Every Alpina has a plaque which specifies the model and the build number. I can only assume this is useful for when you meet up with your nerdy Alpina friends. Just so you can wipe the smile off of Jeremy’s face when you tell him that you have number 14 when he mentions that he has number 47.
Something I like to do in my spare time is configurate cars that I can’t afford. Alpina have fuelled my pointless habit by having a configurator on their website. However it is in German and I haven’t worked out how to change it to English, but then again I am inept.
Alpina have been involved in motor racing since 1968, all stemming from touring cars, they even had a little known racing driver called Niki Lauda race for them. In 1988 Alpina decided to solely focus on their production cars and pulled out of motor racing. Recently Alpina have had another short stint in racing from 2009 to 2013. Hopefully we will see them return to motor racing again soon!
Alpina is a cool sub-brand with lots of heritage. It allows the buyer to make the car very much their own, which you really don’t get anywhere else at this price point. If I had a large chunk of change and fancied a car for; commuting long haul journeys, turning heads, as well as something to blast around some B-roads on the weekend then I would look no further.
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