The Alpina tuning brand is to become part of the BMW Group after nearly 60 years of collaboration.

Alpina has been active in BMW tuning and motorsports for over 60 years

No financial details have been disclosed yet, but the BMW Group is to secure the trademark rights to the brand, subject to regulatory approval. It won’t however acquire shares in Alpina.

Founded on 1 January 1965, Alpina was active in BMW tuning and motorsports from the 1960s onwards and began manufacturing passenger cars based on BMW AG products in 1978. Based in Buchloe in the Ostallgäu district of Bavaria, the company has been registered as an official automotive manufacturer since 1983 and produced 2,000 vehicles in 2021.

Both firms said the transition to electromobility, along with increasing regulation worldwide, had brought significantly higher risks for small-series manufacturers.

The “strategic realignment” will address this and secure the long-term viability of the Buchloe operations.

Andreas Bovensiepen, co-managing director of Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen GmbH + Co. KG, said: “We recognised the challenges facing the automotive industry early on and are now setting the right course for Alpina and for our family firm, Bovensiepen. This marks the beginning of a new chapter.”

He added that the company had taken the conscious decision not to sell Alpina to just any manufacturer, because BMW and Alpina had worked together and trusted one another for decades.

“That is why it is the right decision strategically for the Alpina brand to be managed by the BMW Group in the future.”

The new deal will see the firms’ current cooperation agreement, which expires at the end of 2025, continue in a different form.

The service, parts and accessories business for the existing and legacy BMW Alpina vehicle portfolio will continue at the Buchloe location in the long term. There will be no changes to the existing aftersales cooperation.

But there will be a further expansion of the existing development services business for BMW out of Buchloe.

BMW added that the sale of trademark rights and the resulting discontinuation of the current Alpina vehicle programme at the end of 2025 will have implications for existing jobs at the Buchloe site. But it will work with Alpina to offer new positions within the group, along with suppliers and development partners, to those employees affected.