BMW’s out of house/in-house luxury performance tuner Alpina has taken the wraps off of the most potent B6 ever. Expected to debut at Geneva next year the B6 “makes due” with 507hp twin-turbo V8 as found in the B5 BiTurbo. However a couple of tweaks to the B6 BiTurbo make it especially interesting. The carbon fiber trim in the front certainly sets the B6 BiTurbo apart from the more pedestrian Alpina offerings. But it’s the Akrapovic exhaust poking out the rear that has our mouths watering.
Another day, another car the North American Market won’t be seeing. But once again this is still pretty pertinent for all markets. For one we believe Alpina will have a greater presence in worldwide and yes that means the US. Could we see the B5 sedan eventually? Perhaps. However we’d wager an Alpina D3 would be more interesting for the US market.
Our friends over at DrivesTv have posted an eye candy video of the Alpina B7. What can we say about the Alpina B7 besides- it is a gorgeous machine which offers high end luxury and outstanding performance, not much more because it simply offers what few others do. We’d love one to park alongside say an M3 or 1M.
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We’re back at NIAIS with likely the interview many of you have been waiting for years. Matthew Russel is one of us in most ways. He races E30s and lives and breathes BMW. The difference is he also happens to be the newly appointed M Brand Manager for the US. Matt is also a big fan of the 1M. Again like us but the difference is he’s driven it and likely knows more about it than anyone on the planet other than the engineers that created it. So it’s with great pleasure that we were able speak with him today about the 1M. We go into details about the car, the engine and what makes the entire package special.
We also get some answers. We press him on the options debacle (ie why I have to order two packages to get an iPod connector). And we also get some positive news about European delivery and the pricing details around it. The short answer is that he expects the ED pricing discount to be inline with other 1 Series and M cars.
BimmerCast #16 is all about Alpina. We go through in detail what makes the Alpina B7 (introduced recently in the North American market) such a special car. We also talk about Alpina at large and what the brand is all about. For our US listeners who might not be that familiar with the heritage and the values of the brand, it’s a great segment. Finally we talk about why the B7 is the only Alpina we’ll see in the US.
From there we dissect the M3 Competition package and what BMW has done to get the price down $2k over the previous package. We also drop a few bits of info we’ve heard about something else coming to the M3 later in it’s lifecycle. Finally we talk about why the E9X M3 is such a special car and will be coveted for many years to come after production has ceased.
We round this BMW podcast out with talk of BMW Performance and the new 335is models.
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While at the Chicago Auto Show we spent some time with Andreas (Andy) Bovensiepen the son of Alpina’s founder, Burkard Bovensieben, to discuss Alpina’s B7 launch in the US. Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen GmbH, (known to enthusiasts simply as Alpina) is located in the small Bavarian town of Buchloe and is a relatively short drive from BMWs headquarters in Munich. Alpina is more than a simple tuning company, Alpina is a boutique automobile company with a focus on building exclusive BMWs. BMW and Alpina have a working arrangement that allows ideas and information to flow freely in both directions which makes for some great products.
Alpina has sold several limited edition models in the US, the rare Z8 and the previous generation E65 B7 which featured a supercharged motor. We at BimmerFile also have knowledge that Alpina provided some welcomed input and performance adders for the E46 ZHP 3 Series.
Of the many interesting things we learned during our conversation was that Alpina will not be bringing any products below the B7 to the North American market. The reason? They simply don’t have the capacity to build enough to satisfy demand. Nor should they, Alpina is unapologetically the finest distillation of the BMW essence, it is an exclusive product providing performance and sophisticated refinement for the select few willing to pay the price of admission. With a total output of about 5 cars per day Alpina expects to sell around 3,000 of these B7s by the end of the cars run.
The Chicago Auto Show; the largest in the nation and one of the largest in the world (by volume and attendance). This year the snow and the economy have reduced the press turnout but the cars as well as debuts were still to be found.
For BMW fans the most important debut here was the Alpina B7. A car that is Alpina’s second go at a 7er in the US and one that represents the Alpina brand particularly well. 21″ wheels that are 21 lbs. That is Alpina in a nutshell as well as the B7. Engineering effeciency, power, performance and of course, comfort. We’ll have more on that car later. But until then, enjoy the show.
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We believe in the old school BMW ownership experience. We believe in garage nights with a six pack and some friends. We believe in 2002s, in E30 M3s and E34 540s with the 6 speed. We believe in progress in both design and engineering but we haven't lost sight of what made the brand and its products great all those years ago. And yes, we believe in the manual transmission.
We long for the days of the wave and for the days of roll-up windows. Yet we love the gadgets on the inside and the xenons on the outside.
In short, we can't get enough of BMWs. This is BimmerFile.
Sections: Alpina Sep 2nd, 2011 1 Comment 
