alpina?

[ppDoc]

hey guys, i don't know much about alpina, i know they sell bmw cars fully upgraded already. do they offer these cars in europe only? and do you guys think that a B1 could be in the making given the success of the B7 D3 and now the B3.

[juniormint]

Alpina's are in the US yet very rare, I have only seen a handful. Their is a B7 at my local dealer. I dont see why a B1 wouldnt be in the works.

[larryn]

B1 is in the works, but for the Euro market only, just like almost every other car that they build in Buchloe. BMW has opted to not allow Alpina to be a direct seller in the States. Alpina is a car manufacturer, not a tuner. They build their cars from the ground up, using a ton of BMW sourced parts.

BMWNA has allowed a couple Alpinas here in the past decade, like the B7 and the Z8 derived Alpina roadster. They sell/sold them in the normal BMW dealership channel as a BMW, not as an Alpina. I've seen a few older gray market Alpinas for sale occasionally, that people have imported themselves.

Alpina has made their tweaked versions of pretty much all of BMW's offerings for the past 30 years, and we've gotten almost none of them. I expect the same to be true for the B1. I'd carve a kidney out for a B3S, or a B1S, if they make one. (I just want a 6sp manual though)

[Robert]

The have a B7 at the dealer I go to and it has been sitting there for month

[larryn]

Originally Posted by robert

The have a B7 at the dealer I go to and it has been sitting there for month

Same here. I saw two there the last two times I've been there.

[eunosracr]

Originally Posted by larryn

Same here. I saw two there the last two times I've been there.

I was out and about this weekend and happened to see a B7 parked on the side of the street so I snapped a pic of it. Sorry for the poor quality.

[schnell330i]

Originally Posted by larryn

B1 is in the works, but for the Euro market only, just like almost every other car that they build in Buchloe. BMW has opted to not allow Alpina to be a direct seller in the States. Alpina is a car manufacturer, not a tuner. They build their cars from the ground up, using a ton of BMW sourced parts.

BMWNA has allowed a couple Alpinas here in the past decade, like the B7 and the Z8 derived Alpina roadster. They sell/sold them in the normal BMW dealership channel as a BMW, not as an Alpina. I've seen a few older gray market Alpinas for sale occasionally, that people have imported themselves.

Alpina has made their tweaked versions of pretty much all of BMW's offerings for the past 30 years, and we've gotten almost none of them. I expect the same to be true for the B1. I'd carve a kidney out for a B3S, or a B1S, if they make one. (I just want a 6sp manual though)

contrary to what many believe (and what Alpina wants you to believe) Alpina is an independant out-of-house tuner; they do not build the cars from the ground up; the B7, like the others they build are built in the normal BMW manufacturing plants (Dingolfing in the 7 series's case) and then sent to Alpina for the modifications. They are sold as BMW Alpinas , not as Alpinas, and they are liscenced as so; and BMW chooses to sell them in their dealerships because there is no 7 series competitor to compete with the s class AMGs, since to convert a 7 series into an M car wouldnt translate well.