- BMW Alpina has teased its first full car ahead of this week’s May 15 reveal.
- A single teaser image shows a silhouetted coupe with a sporty fastback tail.
- BMW completed its takeover of Alpina earlier this year, after buying it in 2022.
BMW’s takeover of Alpina is finally about to produce something more than a poshed-up sedan. This Friday at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, BMW will unveil the Vision BMW Alpina, a concept previewing the future direction of the newly absorbed brand, and an intriguing teaser image drops some big hints about what to expect.
The shadowy profile of a car parked on a cliff top appears to show a low-slung fastback coupe with long proportions and a tapered rear. It’s not clear if it has two doors or four, but it looks more like an elegant grand tourer than anything currently sitting in BMW showrooms right now.
Related: BMW Has A New Role For Alpina, And It Starts With Two New Models
Some reports suggest it occupies similar visual territory to the old 8-Series Gran Coupe, though the lighting signatures appear completely unique, and we bet it’s aiming at a much more exclusive audience. That lighting detail is significant because Alpina models – even the most recent X7-based XB7 Manufaktur – have traditionally been simply enhanced versions of existing BMWs. The new concept hints BMW could finally allow Alpina to step into more bespoke territory.
According to Autocar, future Alpina products will focus heavily on comfort, refinement, luxury, and personalization rather than directly chasing BMW M cars on outright performance. BMW Group research and development boss Joachim Post told the publication the brand “will talk not about sport but speed, comfort and luxury.”
That philosophy sounds very familiar to longtime Alpina fans. In recent decades, the company built fast autobahn cruisers with discreet styling, supple ride quality, and lavish cabins instead of hardcore track weapons, though its early days were spent building more hardcore performance machines.
The Rolls-Royce Connection
What’s also fueling excitement is the reported involvement of some serious design talent. BMW Blog claims Alex Innes, the former Rolls-Royce coachbuild designer behind creations like the Boat Tail and La Rose Noire Droptail, likely worked on the project, which bodes well for the design’s potential wow factor.
Villa d’Este also feels like a very deliberate choice. BMW could’ve debuted this concept at a conventional auto show, but instead chose one of the world’s most prestigious concours events, where design and elegance matter just as much as horsepower figures. In previous years at the same event, BMW has debuted a number of concepts, some of which either entered small-scale production (Concept Skytop) or previewed future models (Concept XM).
The word ‘Vision’ in the Vision BMW Alpina name tells us this new coupe won’t be production ready, but it will at least give us our clearest idea of what exactly the parent company wants to do with its newest sub-brand. It sounds like BMW wants Alpina positioned less like an alternative to M, and more like a German interpretation of Bentley-style grand touring luxury, with a very modern slant. We’ll find out more this Friday, so stay tuned.
