[Eshan Joshi]

Alpina BMWs have come to deliver performance near that of BMW's high-performance M products, with beefed up engines and transmissions, but with a focus on retaining comfort and luxury over outright rawness. Alpina, a standalone company, has in place an agreement to furnish its wares through BMW dealerships through 2025, but with BMW's acquisition of the rights to the company, that relationship will now change.

For now, Alpinas are built in Buchloe, a region of Bavaria (and where BMW also is based). As 2025 approaches, and should BMW's takeover of Alpina be approved by regulators, the company will be adjusting Alpina's workforce, either re-assigning some to positions within BMW Group or helping them find new jobs elsewhere in the automotive industry.

Why? Because it sounds like BMW, which already starts the production of every Alpina vehicle in its own factory, before shifting the model to Alpina's Buchloe workshop for final assembly and modification, will bring most if not all of that final work in-house. BMW says 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." The site also will host "a further expansion of the existing development services business for BMW."

The move to grab Alpina's name and its trademarks (though, interestingly, no direct shares in the company) is billed as a savior-esque move; while Alpina saw great success in 2021, BMW feels that with the rapid electrification of the industry, tough times are ahead for small manufacturers such as Alpina. To preserve the brand and shepherd it into this new era, BMW is acquiring it so that it may continue to deliver specialized sport-luxury vehicles with the iconic Alpina name to its customers.

For More:
https://www.motortrend.com/news/bmw-...r-luxury-cars/

[amol4184]

I read this 2-3 times and only conclusion I can draw from this is that BMW bought them out of pure goodwill.
Specialty firms like Alpina might not survive unless they develop expertise on electrification (if at all).

Good one BMW.