Alpina B4 Gran Coupé
A few weeks ago, the news that BMW was taking over the small-series manufacturer Alpina took the car scene by surprise. The exclusive BMW-based vehicles will continue to roll off the production line in Buchloe until 2025. After that, the rights to the name will go to BMW, while all company shares will remain with Alpina Burkhard Bovensieben GmbH & Co. KG. The latter will then continue to carry out service and restoration work on the Alpina vehicles built up to that point. Some employees from production are to move to BMW or suppliers. But until that happens, there will still be new models from Buchloe for a few more years. The latest vehicle goes by the name of B4 Gran Coupé and occupies a segment that BMW itself doesn’t. Although there will be a total of four body variants of the M3 and M4, the Gran Coupé isn’t one of them. Instead, an M3 Touring will soon appear for the very first time. So Alpina is now taking care of the four-door coupé.
Alpina-typical modifications
On the body, the usual Alpina ingredients come into play. A new front bumper with large air intakes and integrated spoiler lips sits around the large kidney grille. A matching rear bumper with diffuser insert and side skirts have been designed as well. There is a further spoiler lip on the trunk lid. Alpina stripes run along the bodywork if desired. Four round exhaust tailpipes release the exhaust gases of a powerful engine to the outside. On special request, the diffuser can also be combined with a trailer hitch. Newly designed 20-inch forged wheels sit in the wheel arches. They are fitted with 255/35 ZR 20 front and 285/30 ZR 20 rear Pirelli PZero Ultra tires. In addition to the typical silver paint finish, the rims are also available in black or anthracite.
495 hp six-cylinder engine
Under the hood of the Alpina B4 Gran Coupé sits a further developed S58 inline six-cylinder engine from BMW with three liters of displacement and two turbochargers. Alpina elicits 495 hp and 730 Nm of torque from the powerplant, surpassing even the in-house B3. An eight-speed automatic transmission from ZF transmits the power permanently to all four wheels. An electronic limited-slip differential is fitted as standard on the rear axle. The sprint to 62 mph takes 3.9 seconds, and 12.9 seconds to 124 mph. Topspeed is given by Alpina as 187 mph. Behind the wheels sits the large-format brake system with four-piston calipers at the front and floating calipers at the rear. A high-performance brake with composite discs is also available at extra cost. Naturally, a firmer sports suspension is also used. In the engine compartment, dome front-end struts provide more rigidity.
First deliveries in July
The interior is basically the same as in the BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé. Finest leather is used on the seats and door panels as well as parts of the dashboard. The headrests feature embossed Alpina logos. For the trim parts, there is a choice of various woods as well as black piano lacquer. The metal badge with a consecutive production number, typical of Alpina, is located on the center tunnel. Initial orders for the B4 Gran Coupé can be placed immediately. According to Alpina, deliveries will take place from July 2022. The base price in Germany is € 91,800.
Images: Alpina
