BMW to reveal future of reinvented Alpina brand in 2026
Renowned German outfit, now part of BMW Group and with its own designer, is poised for new era BMW will reveal the future of the Alpina next year, as it officially takes ownership of the 60-year-old performance brand and installs a dedicated designer, previously of Polestar, at the helm. Munich announced it had acquired Buchloe-based Alpina from its founders, the Bovensiepen family, in 2022, but the firm will continue to operate at arm’s length through 2025, having recently launched the B8 GT super-saloon as a swansong for its independent era. Details of exactly what the future holds for Alpina as it comes under the BMW Group umbrella are unclear, but chief designer Adrian van Hooydonk told Autocar that the company will break its silence in 2026, when the handover is complete. "Alpina has always been very special to us. We had a very good relationship – and we still do – with the Bovensiepen family who founded that brand," he said. "The Alpina cars are produced in our factory, so there was already a very strong technical tie-up as well.” "It has been quiet because the agreement that we struck with the Bovensiepen family is such that from next year, we will talk more about it; this year, it is all still under their direction. "We love the brand and we want it to prosper in the future, but you will see some of that next year." Historically, Alpina models have been extensively modified versions of BMW models that offer similar power and performance capabilities to their racier M-badged equivalents but put more of a focus on subtlety and touring refinement. There is no word yet on whether Alpina will maintain that positioning (with dedicated B3 and B5 versions of the next 3 Series and 5 Series, for example), but it's likely that the brand’s cars will henceforth be more obviously differentiated from the cars on which they are based. Van Hooydonk recently presided over a wide-reaching overhaul of the BMW Group’s design network, with each of its brands swapping design bosses and new dedicated designers for BMW M and Alpina installed. "I was able to enlarge my team, which is very rare,” he said, “but it's also a token of the confidence that the top management has in our design team. Simply, the workload has grown, so it was actually helpful for me to be able to enlarge my first line.” Among the significant changes were Mini’s Oliver Heilmer moving across to BMW to replace Domagoj Dukec, who is now leading Rolls-Royce design, and former Polestar design boss Maximilian Missoni joining the German firm to take responsibility for Alpina. “I feel very good about those changes. It will allow the team to work with more dedication, more attention to detail,” said Van Hooydonk. “I split up the BMW team into two: Max Missoni is taking care of one half and Oliver Heilmer, who was formerly in charge of Mini, is taking care of the other half.” Asked if that meant there could be more differentiation between Alpina cars, M cars and standard BMW cars, Van Hooydonk said “they are already quite different” but that the foundations have been laid for each brand to take on more of a distinct character. "It will still remain one design language, but the teams are smaller in size and the workload is now divided over multiple shoulders, and that will simply lead, I believe, to better-quality results, and will set us up for more growth in the near future."
Renowned German outfit, now part of BMW Group and with its own designer, is poised for new era
BMW will reveal the future of the Alpina next year, as it officially takes ownership of the 60-year-old performance brand and installs a dedicated designer, previously of Polestar, at the helm.
Munich announced it had acquired Buchloe-based Alpina from its founders, the Bovensiepen family, in 2022, but the firm will continue to operate at arm’s length through 2025, having recently launched the B8 GT super-saloon as a swansong for its independent era.
Details of exactly what the future holds for Alpina as it comes under the BMW Group umbrella are unclear, but chief designer Adrian van Hooydonk told Autocar that the company will break its silence in 2026, when the handover is complete.
"Alpina has always been very special to us. We had a very good relationship – and we still do – with the Bovensiepen family who founded that brand," he said. "The Alpina cars are produced in our factory, so there was already a very strong technical tie-up as well.”
"It has been quiet because the agreement that we struck with the Bovensiepen family is such that from next year, we will talk more about it; this year, it is all still under their direction.
"We love the brand and we want it to prosper in the future, but you will see some of that next year."
Historically, Alpina models have been extensively modified versions of BMW models that offer similar power and performance capabilities to their racier M-badged equivalents but put more of a focus on subtlety and touring refinement.
There is no word yet on whether Alpina will maintain that positioning (with dedicated B3 and B5 versions of the next 3 Series and 5 Series, for example), but it's likely that the brand’s cars will henceforth be more obviously differentiated from the cars on which they are based.
Van Hooydonk recently presided over a wide-reaching overhaul of the BMW Group’s design network, with each of its brands swapping design bosses and new dedicated designers for BMW M and Alpina installed.
"I was able to enlarge my team, which is very rare,” he said, “but it's also a token of the confidence that the top management has in our design team. Simply, the workload has grown, so it was actually helpful for me to be able to enlarge my first line.”
Among the significant changes were Mini’s Oliver Heilmer moving across to BMW to replace Domagoj Dukec, who is now leading Rolls-Royce design, and former Polestar design boss Maximilian Missoni joining the German firm to take responsibility for Alpina.
“I feel very good about those changes. It will allow the team to work with more dedication, more attention to detail,” said Van Hooydonk. “I split up the BMW team into two: Max Missoni is taking care of one half and Oliver Heilmer, who was formerly in charge of Mini, is taking care of the other half.”
Asked if that meant there could be more differentiation between Alpina cars, M cars and standard BMW cars, Van Hooydonk said “they are already quite different” but that the foundations have been laid for each brand to take on more of a distinct character.
"It will still remain one design language, but the teams are smaller in size and the workload is now divided over multiple shoulders, and that will simply lead, I believe, to better-quality results, and will set us up for more growth in the near future."
