Burkard Bovensiepen, the founding father of German efficiency marque Alpina, handed away final week on the age of 87.

Alpina continues to be not extensively recognized within the U.S., however for BMW diehards the model is synonymous with efficiency, luxurious and craftsmanship.

Primarily based within the state of Bavaria, the identical as BMW, Alpina was based in 1965 as a tuner of BMW automobiles, making it older than BMW’s personal M division, which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary final 12 months.

Bovensiepen was concerned within the manufacturing of typewriters early in his profession, however he had a ardour for quick automobiles and within the early Sixties began tinkering with the carburetors and revising the cylinder heads of a BMW 1500 he owned. It shortly changed into a enterprise, and that enterprise shortly produced automobiles that had been profitable on racetracks.

By 1983, Alpina had develop into an formally acknowledged producer of vehicles and each BMW and Alpina have loved an enduring relationship centered on the creation of potent machines.

That relationship develop into a lot nearer final 12 months when BMW acquired the rights to the Alpina title. The deal places BMW in control of Alpina automobile manufacturing starting in 2025, whereas Alpina itself, as we speak run by Bovensiepen’s son Andreas, will concentrate on automobile growth in addition to the service, elements, and equipment facet of the enterprise.

Alpina automobiles are extremely wanted, however the firm’s restricted capability means it solely builds a number of thousand automobiles yearly. Consequently, its merchandise are likely to promote out shortly. With BMW set to take over manufacturing, it’s probably volumes will enhance and probably extra fashions might be launched.

This text was initially printed by Motor Authority, an editorial accomplice of ClassicCars.com