Alpina, the longstanding German tuning company responsible for building some of the coolest BMW-based race cars and road cars of the last 60 or so years, has been undergoing huge changes since 2022. Four years ago, BMW announced it had purchased the tuner brand, with plans to absorb it into the BMW Group conglomerate. Earlier this year, the transfer of ownership was finalized, and BMW even unveiled a revised logo for the newly formed subsidiary, simply called BMW Alpina.
In modern times, Alpina is best-known for building highly capable and highly usable versions of standard BMW models. It was sort of like BMW M’s more luxurious, quirkier cousin. It built cars that were quick, but also distinctly styled and awash with high-quality materials. For America, that meant cars like the B6, based on the 6-Series, the B7, based on the 7-Series, and the XB7, based on the X7 SUV.
Alpina has yet to reveal a new car since BMW acquired it, leading the industry to ponder what sorts of changes the execs in Bavaria had in store for the brand. In March, CEO Oliver Zipse positioned BMW Alpina as a brand that could sit between the standard BMW lineup and the Rolls-Royce ultra-luxury brand, which makes sense considering its recent history.
Now, thanks to this new concept, the car world finally has a good idea of where BMW is taking the Alpina brand. Called the Vision BMW Alpina, it’s a huge, V8-powered two-door coupe that’s as long as a Chrysler minivan.
I Can Get On Board With This
The Vision BMW Alpina feels like a greatest-hits mashup of BMW’s design history. The overall shape is very 8-Series, with the long nose and relatively short rear overhang. At 204.7 inches long, it’s about as long as a Chrysler Pacifica. The big, wide kidney grilles remind me of those found on that ultra-limited 3.0 CSL the company sold a few years back, while the pointy beak shape is inspired by the original B7 coupe from the late ’70s, which was based on the “sharknose” E24 6-Series. Naturally, the grille surrounds are illuminated in a specific warm tone “inspired by the first light over the Bavarian Alps,” according to BMW.
The headlight fixtures and vertical vents on either end of the fascia, meanwhile, feel pretty similar to the units found on the current 7-Series. The taillights, on the other hand, remind me a bit of the lights found on the back of the Z8 roadster from the early 2000s (and also kinda give me Genesis vibes, to be honest). The interior is pretty 7-Series-ish, too, with a head-up display going from A-pillar to A-pillar, a main infotainment screen, and a secondary screen for the passenger. There are physical controls made from crystal for stuff like the window switches, start-stop button, drive mode selector, and seat adjustment rockers. Despite being a drive-focused coupe, there’s quite a lot going on in the rear seating area:
Behind the rear console, a glass water bottle sits beside BMW ALPINA crystal glasses that rise on a self-deploying mechanism. Each glass is engraved with 20 deco-lines and features a sixdegree rim profile, held by concealed magnets and softly lit against the open-grain center console.
This is an Alpina, after all, and what Alpina wouldn’t be complete with a set of the company’s signature 20-spoke wheels? They’re present and accounted for here, measuring 22 inches up front and 23 inches in the rear. The Alpina themes continue along the sides of the car, where you’ll find “modernized” versions of Alpina’s iconic deco-line pattern painted under the clear coat. There are also four elliptical exhaust pipes out back, a standard feature of any modern Alpina.
What’s Under The Skin?
BMW is being pretty vague on powertrain details, saying only that the Vision BMW Alpina is powered by a V8 of some kind. There’s no mention of output, transmission, driven wheels, or possible hybrid tech onboard. If I had to guess, it’s probably hiding a version of the company’s widely used 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8, which is found in everything from the 7-Series, to the X7, to the limited Skytop coupe. Of course, in reality, there could be no engine, as this is just a concept. It’s equally likely the car is a rolling design buck with no drivetrain at all.
As for chassis dynamics, BMW does drop a hint on what to expect behind the wheel, name-dropping Alpina’s founder, Burkard Bovensiepen, in the process. From the release:
Burkard Bovensiepen understood something much of the automotive world has forgotten: a comfortable driver is a faster driver. That belief remains central to the Vision BMW ALPINA. Alpina offers Comfort+, a setting beyond the standard BMW comfort calibration that delivers a more supple, refined character, and it is retained here.
How likely is the Vision BMW Alpina for production? BMW doesn’t give any hints, saying only that it’s a one-of-one design that signals “a new era for BMW Alpina.” Towards the end of the release, the company mentions that the first Alpina production car to be released under this new ownership won’t be a coupe at all—it’ll be a version of the current 7-Series. So if the Vision does get greenlit, we probably won’t see it for a while.
Either way, relaunching the brand with a big, stately, comfortable, stylish coupe feels like the right move for Alpina, as it seems to fit the brand’s ethos well.
Top graphic image: BMW
I’ve found the best way to wrap my brain around most contemporary BMW design is to imagine the car not as a BMW, but as an alternate world Pontiac. This one was supposed to be a Grand Ville.
Coupes the size of minivans are my jam.
Because the Gran Lusso concept from 2013 and the 8 Series concept from 2017 were too pretty?
That is not an Alpina, that is an ugly piece of…but at least it’s better than a lot of their recent stuff…
I think it’s not bad looking, not totally my cup of tea but we’ll see how it stands the test of time. This looks like what Jaguar was going for when they ended up with their abomination
If you ignore the front end it looks pretty sweet.
The under grill bumper line reminds me of Din Djarin’s Mandalorian helmet.
Ridiculous kidney shaped grills. …This is the way
There is no going back to classy BMWs. I have spoken.
Enough about the car. How about some pictures of those kickass GLASSES! 20 deco-lines? A “sixdegree rim profile”? Hidden freakin’ magnets? BMW IS BACK, BABY!!!
“Six degree rim profile” was my username on-
… You know what, nevermind
Bwaaa
I simultaneously hate this, and also think it’s the best looking car they’ve shown recently.
I only really hate the front 10%, which is a [US Gov’t Math Calculator sounds] 680% improvement.
Right? It’s terrible, but compared to the rest of the ugly crap BMW has been making, it ain’t bad.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this isn’t even a rolling buck (as mentioned), and just a 3D model. The exterior looks very realistic, but that interior screams “rendering” to me.
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!
You gotta put a warning on these articles w/ these horrifically awful bimmer front ends…I think this is one of the worst ones ever. This is just horrible…I’m going to puke now and make an opthalmologist appointment for eye surgery…
As big as a Chrysler and it doesn’t seat about 20?!?
My liebeshutte is tucked away in the Black Forest.
…Vision GT has made the “vision” name so common for concepts I’m starting to get sick of it. Thanks, Kaz.
The really wild thing about current BMW is most of their cars are one of, if not the, most highly regarded vehicles in all of their classes. They objectively don’t make a bad car, their ICE vehicles are currently the most reliable among the German brands, the list is endless.
…and yet they have the worst design team in the automotive industry. Listen, I get it. The Chinese market is the white whale for these manufacturers and the Chinese market wants hideous, wants screens, etc. They also clearly have a “no press is bad press” attitude towards their war crime designs.
But holy shit. I feel like they’re trolling at this point and trying to see how ugly they can make their cars before they no longer sell well. Unfortunately for those of us that have eyes, they’re still selling! So maybe we’re wrong? Ugh, as a card carrying BMW apologist it’s getting harder and harder to justify having any emotional investment in the brand at all.
I agree on the recent BMW styling, but I gotta say I think is a step in the right direction. Great proportions, a decent treatment of the giant grille (by not making it a grille), and pretty restrained side and rear designs.
For what ever it’s worth, even the Bangle 7 series, though not handsome, had absolutely perfect proportions.
True! People will flame me, but I think the Bangle 5, 3, and Z4 all kick ass.
I very much think of them overall as the last good era of BMW.
I disagree… except for the Z4. I saw one recently and that things has presence. It has aged well.
The rest, though, terrible.
I will get flamed with you, then, because I still just stop and look at the (my) Z4 sometimes. I love it still.
You are wrong, and we all were at some point.
I’ve learned with BMW to just get with the program. The designers somehow know what will look good 10 years in advance.
The E60 was hated and now it has aged beautifully. Compare it to the Audi and Merc equivalents for the time and it looks 20 years younger.
It’s the same for almost all their models – so just trust the process and in 10 years you’ll love them.
There are exceptions. The XM is not redeemable. I’ve never gotten used to the G80 fascia but so many people have.
People have been doing this as long as BMW have been making cars. I’m old enough to remember it being said about the E30 and E34, and the 6 and 7 Series of the era, and going back much further I’ve seen contemporary reviews of the 507 bemoaning the looks with much the same complaints.
It isn’t just BMW, of course, because many manufacturers try to create a car that’s going to still look new when it’s still on sale 5-7 years after launch.
I was going to disagree about the XM, but then I realised I was thinking of the iX. Even the XM, though, looks relatively acceptable nowadays alongside the even more awful competition in that segment.
I actually kinda sorta maybe like it on the outside. Can’t say the same for the inside.
The inside seems… ok I guess. The passenger screen needs to go away tho. They can reach over to the center if need be and for everything else they have their phone.
I’d never have predicted in 1977 that sixty years later BMW would leading the way in the Very Huge Personal Luxury Coupe (VHPLC) segment.
Are you from the future? Stock advice please.
This is about 20 inches shorter than a 1976 Eldorado, but I think they should still embrace the glory of the 70’s personal luxury coupe and put a landau roof on here with opera lights.
Is this BMW’s answer to Jaguar?
…and probably weighs as much as one too.
If the G90 M5 is any indication, it will way 1250lbs more than a Pacifica.
Woof. These so-called “sports cars” are too damned fat. These plastic-fantastics using lightweight materials weigh TWICE what the old V8 Detroit iron land yachts used to…
Agree on all. Except that this not a sportscar. It is BMWs answer to the Bentley Brooklands.
“What’s Under The Skin?”
based on these photos, a stretched Chevy Camaro
There’s some satisfaction to had from being able to buy the BMW of your dreams, but finding that you no longer want one.
It’s like rejecting someone who you once pined for.
I assume the “Vision” they’re referring to is impaired, based on the front end of this thing. Both not good yet somehow better than many BMWs of the past decade.
As a driver of a Chrysler (do I even need to say ‘van’ anymore) I will say that it is long a hell. A coupe that length is… a little much for me.
That’s a very poetic way to say we got a good deal on warm LEDs, but given that I wish more cars had warm white lights I’m not going to complain.
Also, now I’m going to have Love Shack in my head for the rest of the day.
I got me a car that’s as big as a whale
And we’re heading on down to the Love Shack
I got me a
ChryslerBMW that seats about 20So hurry up and bring your jukebox money
As long as a Pacifica doesn’t seem all that long. But that’s probably because I don’t pay attention to minivans. So I looked up other things: this would be 17-18ish inches longer than a Mustang or LC500. Which means the Pacifica is bigger than I thought it was.
Also…I learned today that the LC500 is a couple inches shorter than a Mustang. It looks way longer.
Man, BMW is REALLY committed to making ugly cars.
Butterface Motor Works. It looks quite good from all the angles where you can’t see the face.
I wonder if there’s another car out there where the rear 3/4 view looks so much better than the front 3/4. It’s night and day.
I’m seeing a lot of AMG GT in the side profile.
With a 1970s Pontiac beak