It was the first time that BMW had approached the owners of Alpina to ask them if they would like to sell the brand, but the timing was astute.
"The risks for small manufacturers are going up massively," says Andreas Bovensiepen, who with his brother Florian runs Alpina, the company their father founded to tune BMWs back in 1965. "But the opportunities aren't increasing in the same way."
Over an hour with Autocar, Bovensiepen outlines the dilemma facing Alpina, which from its modest tuning and racing roots has become an independent manufacturer in its own right, making fast, luxurious and discreet cars that are 80% finished in BMW factories, owing to a close partnership with the Munich firm.
There's a burgeoning order book: Alpina sold a record 2000 cars last year and expects to repeat the feat until BMW assumes control of the brand's future at the end of 2025. But the future was becoming much harder to call.
Previously, "it was quite clear" which cars Alpina should make, says Bovensiepen, "and we always made the right choices when we made our sales estimates". But its world has changed, particularly since the Volkswagen emissions scandal.
"For companies like Alpina, it becomes more and more difficult," explains Bovensiepen. "In recent years, we had a CO2 arrangement with the European Commission for small-volume manufacturers who make fewer than 10,000 cars a year [whereby some rules are relaxed]. But these kinds of things will change or disappear, and then it gets tricky because if a big manufacturer has a big model range, they can fulfill their overall CO2 target, but we can't.”
Already in France, the Alpina B5 incurs a €20,000 (£16,845) sales tax.
While electrification is "what every politician wants", it doesn't always suit the use case for Alpina owners, who will often "use a car rather than a plane to go [the 243 miles] from Munich to Frankfurt".
Bu hikaye Autocar UK dergisinin August 03, 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Autocar UK dergisinin August 03, 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
The venomous nature of the Cobra
Last week, Matt Prior drove a totally new kind of AC Cobra. This is a car with one of the strongest allures of all - but also an incredibly complex and controversial history.
SKODA KAMIQ
A long getting-to-know-you trip to Spain reveals all
THE SEVEN-YEAR TITCH
Outgoing baby Jag is plush, practical and now eminently affordable
'Our time has come'
Honda may be late to the EV party, but a barrage of bold new battery-powered cars is on the way. JAMES ATTWOOD speaks to boss Toshihiro Mibe at its R&D base to find out what's in store
Lion kings
Plush, powerful four-door cars are an endangered species - and now Peugeot has called time on its latest, the 508 PSE. STEPHEN DOBIE compares it with its most significant ancestor, the 505 GTI
VOLKSWAGEN GOLF
Wolfsburg gives the lesser-known Golf PHEV a big-impact refresh
PORSCHE PANAMERA GTS
Stuttgart's latest 'bahnstormer targets driver appeal over outright punch
MERCEDES-AMG GT 63 PRO
Hardcore variant of V8 sports car engineered with track days in mind
TESLA REVEALS ROBOTAXI
Firm unveils Cybercab coupé and 20-seat Robovan in autonomy push
DACIA PLOTS AMBITIOUS EXPANDED EURO LINE-UP
Firm teases something different’ ahead of impending C-segment reveal