History: BMW vs M vs Alpina?
Posted by revocer@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 5 comments
It seems that Alpina has been brought under the corporate umbrella of BMW, just like M.
Historically, how were Alpina and M perceived from the car guy community? And how have they changed since being brought under BMW? Are they still worth the extra cash? Or are we better off tuning it ourselves?
revocer@reddit (OP)
So the “hierarchy” is BMW, BMW Mxxx, BMW Mx, Alpina?
BitParking6357@reddit
Alpina was acquired by BMW in 2022, they continued to manufacturing cars until last year. Today the Vision BMW Alpina was revealed.
M has always been more about motorsport (later became the performance brand due to homolagation requirements)
Alpina was always positioned above the comparative BMW product and it was never about brute force, it was more about graceful power delivery (probably the best/worst example is the Alpina Roadster which produced less power than the Z8 and also had an automatic gearbox). BMW’s intent now is to position Alpina between BWM and Rolls Royce - all Alpina’s will be manufactured by hand.
revocer@reddit (OP)
Interesting. So M was more brute force?
straight_sixes@reddit
BMW Motorsports has always been a part of BMW. It was the formation of an actual racing program. 3.0CSL then the M1. Eventually you got road going versions like the e28 M5 and e24 M635csi/M6 and later the e30 M3.
Alpina was an independent tuner focusedore on high speed cruising/ touring.
SailingSpark@reddit
Yes, alpina was higher performance than standard BMW, but not hard core like the motorsports division. I loved their rims.