BMW and Alpina become ONE – BMW buys specialist Alpina to add to its brands

BMW has acquired BMW specialist Alpina in a move that adds to BMW’s portfolio of brands and secures the future of Alpina.

Alpina has been doing very good things to BMWs for a very long time – over 50 years – adding performance and style and doing it in a tasteful and elegant way, producing cars that are more bespoke and more individual than BMW’s models, cleverly delivering performance in a more cosseting way than BMW’s M models

Currently, in the UK, Alpina offers the 3 Series D3 S and B3, the XDs (X3), 5 Series D5 S and B5, the 7 Series B7, the XB7 (X7) and the 8 Series B8, with prices starting at £56k for the D3 S rising to £137k for the XB7.

But with the car world moving ever quicker, it’s getting more and more difficult for boutique makers like Alpina to survive – even when they get the base cars, with warranty, direct from BMW – but BMW has decided it’s time to acquire Alpina and bring it in-house to secure its future.

BMW’s Pieter Nota said:

The automotive industry is in the midst of a far-reaching transformation towards sustainable mobility. For that reason, existing business models need to be re-examined on a regular basis. For over fifty years, the Buchloe firm has demon­strated how to deliver top-quality car cachet through meticulous attention to detail. The BMW Group is also driven by this same passion for cars that capture the imagination.

That is why we are now embarking on a new chapter in our long-standing partnership. Acquiring the trademark rights will allow us to shape the long-term course of this brand steeped in tradition. We are delighted to welcome the ALPINA brand to the BMW family.

The current co-operation agreement will run until the end of 2025, after which the Alpina brand will be brought fully in-house, no doubt with BMW expanding the offerings and doing with the Alpina Brand what Mercedes has done with Maybach, adding differently focussed models to sit alongside the regular range and M cars at a premium price.