ALPINA has at all times occupied a uncommon house within the BMW universe. The marque blends hand-finished craftsmanship, bespoke efficiency, and understated luxurious in a manner that even BMW doesn’t. Now, below BMW’s full stewardship, the model faces questions on its future route. In an interview with YouTube channel MotoManTV Podcast, the corporate’s CEO, Andreas Bovensiepen, clues us into the place the model may go.
ALPINA Will Nonetheless Concentrate on Luxurious
Andreas begins by saying that ALPINA isn’t part of all the things BMW does. However, “to my data,” he says, “we’ll think about the massive vehicles, general, on the GKL-class phase now.” GKL refers to “Grand Klasse Luxurious,” or the platform underpinning BMW’s most luxurious fashions. The 7 Collection, 8 Collection, and X7 are all examples of GKL autos, and — maybe not coincidentally — you could possibly up till just lately discover ALPINA tuned examples of all three within the US.
GKL is distinct from UKL (German for “decrease class”), KKL (3 Collection, 4 Collection, X3, X4, Z4) and MKL (5 Collection, X5, X6, iX), segments wherein ALPINA has a presence in internationally. Regardless of the declare that BMW’s specializing in a “Luxurious Layer”, he additionally says that these lower-badged ALPINA variants aren’t going wherever.
“In Europe, now we have 3 Collection, now we have 4 Collection and these sort of vehicles, so far as I do know, they don’t have any plans to stop these form from coming.” That’s to not say they’re coming to America, in fact. But it surely’s excellent news for ALPINA followers in Europe. He goes on to present us slightly extra perception as to precisely the place BMW may place ALPINA.
“They prefer to say, ‘they’ve BMW, they’ve Rolls-Royce, and naturally there may be some house in between,’” Bovensiepen continues. ALPINA has at all times sat above extra pedestrian BMW fashions, however there’s traditionally been a lot of headroom between ALPINA and Rolls. For instance, whereas the ALPINA XB7 instructions $156,000, a Rolls-Royce prices greater than double that, ranging from round $405,000. The identical goes for what you may take into account an “entry stage” Rolls. The Ghost, technically positioned on the backside of the RR pile, begins round $350,000. The ALPINA B8, the tuner’s twist on the 8 Collection Gran Coupe, started at $151,500.
We’ve heard rumors prior to now – but not confirmed by BMW or Bovensiepen – {that a} BMW-made ALPINA B7 may arrive with the facelifted 7 Collection, and even an all-electric ALPINA X7. But it surely stays to be seen whether or not any of those plans will come to fruition.
ALPINA Has Different Objectives, Too
Whereas ALPINA can have recent new fashions coming down the pipeline, there are different methods for the corporate to remain busy. Bovensiepen says that round 40,000 ALPINA-badged cars are nonetheless on the street of the 60,000 produced. They’ll all break finally, and Bovensiepen says ALPINA will be sure components stay accessible for vehicles made within the final “12 to fifteen years, totally and utterly.” The model may also do its greatest to accommodate classic drivers. Though, “After all, we’re not able to ship carburetor components for vehicles from the top of the Sixties or starting of the Nineteen Seventies,” he says. Nonetheless, for something from the “late 70s” on, ALPINA can be there to assist supply components.
It will likely be attention-grabbing to observe ALPINA enter its new period below official BMW stewardship. Thus far, it feels like no dramatic shakeups. Traditionally, ALPINA has at all times represented a special sort of exclusivity than conventional BMW and even M choices. We’re glad BMW’s preserving it that manner.
First revealed by https://www.bmwblog.com
