Alpina reveals its first car since BMW takeover

It’s the first time Alpina has had a crack at the 4 Series and it would be true to say the typically subtle Alpina style makeover – front spoiler and badging, body stripes, quad oval pipes and spoked wheels – deliver the kind of sporty lift the model needs. Alpina says the look of this four-door coupe is elegant, individualistic and expressive, and that is a fair assessment.

Aside from its good looks, the B4 Gran Coupe also goes fast. 187mph fast, flashing past 62mph from standstill in just 3.7 seconds. That’s a full second quicker than the best (M440i) 4 Series Gran Coupe that BMW will sell you. That car comes with 374PS (279kW), and the Alpina B4 has no trouble eclipsing that.

The car gets the same heavily reworked 3.0-litre twin turbo straight-six from the Alpina B3 but with a new exhaust system and new engine software it boasts 33PS (24kW) more power, taking the total to 495PS (364kW). There’s more torque too, now peaking at 730Nm (538lb ft).

Typical of Alpina attention to detail, the cooling system is upgraded and the ZF eight-speed auto transmission has been reinforced and recalibrated. The xDrive all-wheel-drive system remains firmly rear-biased and there’s BMW’s familiar electronically controlled rear limited-slip differential to stop the back end misbehaving when pressing on. And press on it will: 0-62mph takes 3.7 seconds, 0-124mph in 12.9 seconds and top speed is a round 300 clicks, or 187mph.

As ever with this creator of “connoisseurs’ BMWs”, making it go faster will not make it any harder work to drive, unless you want to take it to the track. Alpina says upgrades to the running gear are aimed just as much at touring comfort as dynamic prowess. Changes underneath are substantial: extra reinforcement struts, negative camber at the front axle, specially developed anti-roll bars, bespoke springs and dampers, upgraded four-piston brakes (with composite discs optional) and steering tweaked for more feedback when in the newly recalibrated Sport mode.

The B4 Gran Coupe runs on 20-inch alloys with a 20-spoke design of the sort that Alpinas have had for decades. The slender spoked wheels weigh in at just 12kg each, helping maintain ride comfort despite the high-spec Pirelli P-Zero rubber, with a wider and lower-profile footprint at the back than the front. If anyone can optimise a BMW chassis it’s Alpina, so the results should be worth trying.

It’s all largely standard BMW inside but with some understated, if telling, Alpina touches such as the build number on the production plaque and hand-stitched leather. There are plenty of extra opportunities for customised colour and trim at extra cost (Alpina has its own leather workshop). Ditto on the outside where a range of colours is available including of course the metallic green and blue which have long been exclusive for Alpina models.

You can order a B4 Gran Coupe now for delivery in July. UK price is not confirmed but if it follows the German tag of €91,800 (about £78,000) it will enter the market around £20k more than the standard BMW M440i.

Come the end of 2025 all Alpinas will be standard BMW fare. That is when the company started by Burkard Bovensiepen in 1965 will be fully subsumed into the BMW empire following purchase of the brand in March this year. That makes this B4 Gran Coupe, which has been developed and assembled entirely by the still-family-run company in Buchloe, possibly among the last true Alpinas.

Will Alpina cars be as focused and individual with the anticipated huge model proliferation when the brand becomes to BMW what AMG is to Mercedes? We can only hope so.