THE CURATED EDITION.
Reportage / Buchloe
Alpina became BMW Alpina on 1 January 2026. A new emblem, a V8 design study shown at Villa d’Este and a first production model due in 2027 test whether a temperament can survive a change of owner.
MOTORING
Some brands are built on speed. Alpina was built on the speed you barely notice.
For six decades, the house in Buchloe made BMWs that were faster and calmer at the same time, an unusual pairing in a world that tends to confuse performance with noise. On 1 January 2026 that independence ended in the most respectful way available: Alpina became BMW Alpina, a standalone brand inside the BMW Group. The question it raises is not about ownership. It is whether a temperament can survive a transfer.
Founded in 1965, Alpina moved from tuning parts to building complete cars on BMW foundations and was recognised in Germany as an automobile manufacturer in 1983. Its formula never relied on the largest output figure. It paired effortless pace with ride comfort, careful materials and a recognisable visual language: the decorative side lines, the twenty-spoke wheels, the blue and green.
BMW announced in March 2022 that it would acquire the brand rights, with the existing arrangement running until the end of 2025. The transition was gradual by design.
The January launch introduced a wordmark drawn from Alpina’s asymmetrical lettering of the 1970s. In February a new emblem followed, keeping the throttle body and crankshaft of the original but in a reduced, partly transparent treatment. BMW named the twenty-spoke wheels and the familiar exterior colours as elements to modernise rather than discard. A badge can keep a memory legible. It cannot, on its own, keep a car honest.
That job falls to the car. Revealed in May at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, Vision BMW Alpina is a one-off four-seat coupé, 5,200 mm long, with a V8 tuned for the brand’s exhaust note. A shark nose recalls the late-1970s B7 coupé; the deco-lines are painted beneath the clear coat rather than applied; the twenty-spoke wheels measure 22 inches at the front and 23 at the rear.
Alpina has always represented a very specific idea of performance and refinement.
Adrian van Hooydonk, head of BMW Group Design
Inside, full-grain leather sourced from the Alpine region, restrained blue and green stitching and a Comfort+ setting tuned softer than BMW’s own Comfort mode. Behind the rear console, a mechanism raises a glass water bottle and engraved crystal glasses. It is theatre, but theatre with the right instinct: in an Alpina, the passenger was always meant to arrive as composed as the driver.
The study is not scheduled for production. BMW has said the first BMW Alpina customer model is due in 2027 and that the brand will begin at the top of the range, with the 7 Series and X7 as the likely foundations.
Some brands are built on speed. Alpina was built on the speed you barely notice, and that is the hardest kind to manufacture at scale. The emblem has changed, the owner has changed. If the first car of 2027 still lets a driver cover a continent without raising their pulse, nothing important will have.
| Vision BMW Alpina | One-of-one design study, revealed 15 May 2026 at Villa d’Este |
| Layout | Four-seat coupé, 5,200 mm long |
| Engine | V8 (no output figures published) |
| Wheels | Twenty-spoke design, 22 in front, 23 in rear |
| Production | Study not planned for production; first BMW Alpina model expected in 2027 |
Details and further reading: BMW Group, Vision BMW Alpina · BMW Group, the new Alpina emblem
Instagram: @bmwgroup
GABRIEL SILVEIRADO, FOR WAYFARER.
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