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Written by Tom Ford
Headlines may have been duly nabbed with the new 600bhp, 193mph B7, but how much do you know about BMW"s rakish alter-ego Alpina? Probably not as much as you thinkIf you thought it was just another aftermarket tuning company, you"d be wrong, for a start. Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen GmbH & Co. KG or Alpina Automobiles, is actually a manufacturer in its own right, recognised by the notoriously strict German Federal Ministry of Transport.The reason being that Alpina works very closely with BMW - with cars actually integrated into BMW"s own production line - rather than being aftermarket". An example? That B7 is produced at BMW"s assembly line in Dingolfing alongside the company"s standard cars. Which must be confusing for BMW"s own M-Sport department if nothing else, seeing as the B7 could be considered the M7 that BMW doesn"t actually build itself.Suffice to say that Alpina is as embedded in BMW"s corporate structure as it"s possible to get without actually being a fully-fledged subsidiary. And it"s been around for a very long time, and has serious history.Originally, Alpina actually made typewriters, but the founding operation failed and in 1965 a chap called Burkard Bovensiepen, a member of the big-hitting Bovensiepen German industrialist family, started the Alpina we know and love. Originally he just specialised in tweaking BMW carbs and cylinder heads - specifically Weber carbs - and in "67 came up with the enduring automotive logo that still adorns the Alpinas of today.
Date written: 11 Feb 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 2093
Headlines may have been duly nabbed with the new 600bhp, 193mph B7, but how much do you know about BMW"s rakish alter-ego Alpina? Probably not as much as you thinkIf you thought it was just another aftermarket tuning company, you"d be wrong, for a start. Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen GmbH & Co. KG or Alpina Automobiles, is actually a manufacturer in its own right, recognised by the notoriously strict German Federal Ministry of Transport.The reason being that Alpina works very closely with BMW - with cars actually integrated into BMW"s own production line - rather than being aftermarket". An example? That B7 is produced at BMW"s assembly line in Dingolfing alongside the company"s standard cars. Which must be confusing for BMW"s own M-Sport department if nothing else, seeing as the B7 could be considered the M7 that BMW doesn"t actually build itself.Suffice to say that Alpina is as embedded in BMW"s corporate structure as it"s possible to get without actually being a fully-fledged subsidiary. And it"s been around for a very long time, and has serious history.Originally, Alpina actually made typewriters, but the founding operation failed and in 1965 a chap called Burkard Bovensiepen, a member of the big-hitting Bovensiepen German industrialist family, started the Alpina we know and love. Originally he just specialised in tweaking BMW carbs and cylinder heads - specifically Weber carbs - and in "67 came up with the enduring automotive logo that still adorns the Alpinas of today.
Date written: 11 Feb 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 2093
