ALPINA, as we’ve come to know it over the decades, is no more. The Bovensiepen family, which has owned the company since its inception, sold the rights to the name and badge to BMW, which is taking the brand upmarket and doesn’t plan on making any smaller models. So whatever BMW may bear the ALPINA badge starting in 2026, it’s not going to be a “real” ALPINA because it’s not going to be a car that comes out of Buchloe.
But the ALPINA we know is not dead. It’s evolving and also moving upmarket, but it’s also staying true to its roots. Since it can no longer use the ALPINA name, the company is now called Bovensiepen Automobile, and its first product is this absolutely stunning Zagato coupe. I’ll admit I’m not usually a fan of some Zagato designs, but the Bovensiepen Zagato is up there with some of Zagato’s best recent efforts, like the cars it created for Aston Martin.
This Is the First Car From Bovensiepen After ALPINA: A Zagato-Built Stunner
We answered Bovensiepen’s invitation to witness the unveiling of the Zagato coupe live near Lake Como, and we were glad to see the car in person and learn more about its story and the rebranded company’s future direction.
The coupe is based on the G83 BMW M4 cabriolet, but it has a fixed hardtop roof. Bovensiepen chose the drop-top as the base because it didn’t want a B-pillar, which detracts from the experience of driving a fancy coupe. So they removed the factory roof and its electric folding mechanism and put their own double-bubble carbon fiber roof in its place.
How a BMW M4 Convertible Became a Hand-Built Carbon Coupe
The entire car’s body is carbon fiber. However, a complete M4 convertible is still hidden under there, with all its factory body panels. Bovensiepen did this because it needed to preserve the M4’s safety credentials and essentially not have to homologate the Zagato as a completely new car. Yet even with both layers of bodywork, the car remains lighter than the M4 on which it’s based, mainly because the heavy folding roof has been removed.
It weighs 4,133 lbs (1,875 kg) compared to the donor M4’s 4,243 lbs (1,925 kg), so a difference of 110 lbs (50 kg). It’s also longer and wider than the M4. It grows from 74.3 inches (1,887 mm) in width to 75.3 inches (1,913 mm) without mirrors, and length increases from 189 inches (4,801 mm) to 194.6 inches (4,943 mm), although it doesn’t look like a bigger car when you see it in the metal. It’s marginally lower than the M4, but only by a few millimeters.
Inside the Bovensiepen Zagato: Luxury Leather, Retro Details, and Craftsmanship
Bovensiepen doesn’t try to hide the hardtop design, leaving a clear seam where the top meets the body. That seam remains visible because body flex would eventually cause the paint to crack if it were covered, and there’s an extra dose of fanciness that is derived from leaving it there—I thought it added to the luxury feel of the car.
Still, making an entirely new body for a car is a departure for the company formerly known as ALPINA. It outsources the carbon fiber components and puts everything together in its Buchloe facility, and each car takes over 250 man-hours to complete, not including the manufacturing of each individual piece.
There is a lot to say about the exterior design. It enhances the M4’s wide and aggressive stance, and the beltline has a more pronounced rake than it does in the BMW. The rear flanks have a more visible sharp character line that rises and continues into the large rear spoiler. The wheels subtly nod to the classic ALPINA design familiar to enthusiasts, and they look great on the car.
Bovensiepen retained the M4 LCI’s headlight internals, but they have a different shape, which works very well with the design of the front end, which doesn’t even have a hint of a kidney grille. For the rear, the M4/4 Series laser lights are carried over unchanged, but they look different in the context of the redesigned back.
The car’s interior is exquisite, using the same Lavalina leather that ALPINA vehicles have. Bovensiepen calls the shade of blue used throughout “Heaven,” and while that may sound a bit corny, seeing and experiencing the interior in person, it starts to make sense. Just like in ALPINAa, leather covers most surfaces, and it’s a visual and tactile delight.
The seats are carried over from the M4, but they are reskinned and redesigned for an even more premium aesthetic. The design of the cover for the seat squab is completely different from the M4, hinting at the longitudinal stripes that you might see in the classic BMW E9 or an old Alfa Romeo.
Over 600 HP, Carbon Fiber Everything, and Limited to Just a Few Hundred Units
Under the hood, which is also made out of carbon fiber and has an embossed “Bovensiepen” script on the underside, lies a tweaked version of the M4’s S58 twin-turbo 3-liter straight-six. With Bovensiepen’s special intake, turbos and tuning, it pumps out 602 bhp (611 PS) and 516 lb-ft (700 Nm), sending the car to 62 mph (100 km/h) from a standstill in 3.3 seconds and on to over 186 mph (300 km/h).
The brace that Bovensiepen placed over the engine for extra torsional rigidity and improved steering feel is lifted straight out of the M4 CS, but it was painted black for a more subtle integration. The engine cover, just like the rest of the car, is all in carbon fiber and it proudly displays the Bovensiepen logo, which is new, but it still hints at the car’s BMW roots.
Bovensiepen hasn’t released any official production figures for the Zagato two-door, but it will be somewhere in the low hundreds annually. Since each car is hand-assembled, the annual production capacity will be very low. Keeping the figure low is also key to ensuring the cars’ exclusivity and their value over time, so it’s Bovensiepen playing on its strengths here.
The target price for the vehicle hasn’t been finalized, and it depends on how many cars they will actually build, but they expect the Bovensiepen Zagato to cost between €400,000 and €500,000. It’s around four times more than the donor car and in the same price bracket as the production versions of BMW’s Skytop and Speedtop concepts. That seems a bit steep, but it features a lot more craftsmanship than the BMW, it has a unique Zagato-designed body that really stands out and it has the heritage of ALPINA backing everything up. We’re excited to see this car hit the road and for what Bovensiepen has planned next.
