Back in 2022 German tuning firm Alpina was acquired by BMW and since then it’s been business as usual, with Alpina continuing to build high-spec, tweaked variants of BMW’s line-up. But now something significant has happened: Alpina has a new badge.
There’s been no official comment on the new logo from Alpina or BMW, because we found it on a trademark site where BMW had applied to register it as recently as 3 July.
While the overall design remains similar, it’s simpler. Now black and white instead of the blue and red colour scheme introduced in 1974, the logo loses its 3D effect, while the depictions of the throttle on the left and the crankshaft symbol on the right become less detailed too.
The use of a crankshaft and throttle body in the new logo might give traditional Alpina fans hope that the brand won’t go fully-electric – indeed, Alpina hasn’t worked on a BMW EV yet – but a closer partnership with BMW makes the tuning company’s first electric car seem inevitable.
Alpinas are incredibly rare and just 371 new cars were sold in the UK last year. But if you’re after a high-quality German vehicle, don’t forget there are plenty of BMWs to choose from on the Auto Express Marketplace.
Founded in 1965, Alpina tuned BMWs for motorsport throughout the sixties and seventies. The first Alpina passenger cars were launched in 1978 and since then the firm has expanded into an official vehicle manufacturer based in Buchloe, Germany.
BMW and Alpina will continue their current cooperation agreement, which has been secured until the end of this year. That means BMW-assembled cars will receive extensive modifications from Alpina, including having their powertrain, chassis, aerodynamics and interior equipment tweaked to customer specification.
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