Sytner BMW Nottingham Alpina Tour

Words & Images by Mani Singh Hayer

Alpina. A name to me that oozes heritage, performance, comfort, exclusivity, elegance and luxury. I am sure there are a few more I could add, too. Now that may sound like something out of a sales brochure, but these are the attributes and principles that I feel underpins the Alpina brand and their product offerings. Indeed, their slogan is “The will and the passion”.

Due to work commitments, schedule clashes and Covid-19 getting in the way resulting in a two-year delay, I was invited to the home of Alpina in the UK based at Sytner BMW Nottingham for a chat regarding Alpina GB operations, a tour of the facility and to see a very special vehicle with Alpina’s GB Brand Manager, Gary Lott.

Firstly, a quick history lesson. Alpina is very much a family business and its founder, Burkard Bovensiepen is still involved in the business today, albeit retired from day-to-day duties. Burkard Bovensiepen’s sons, Florian and Andreas, now run the business, including the wine side of the enterprise, which is still going strong.

Alpina has close links with BMW through long standing technical, development and testing services. That partnership has helped forge an outstanding working relationship, to the extent that Alpina cars themselves are made by BMW on their production lines using Alpina-built parts. Then, once mostly built, the vehicles are shipped to Alpina HQ in Buchloe for finishing and final inspection. Alpina is a manufacturer that produces about 2,000 vehicles a year.

In terms of Alpina in the UK, or more precisely, Alpina GB to give the business its correct name, Sytner are the only and official importer of Alpina cars for the UK market and it all started in Nottingham. When the relationship first started between Sytner BMW Nottingham and Alpina in 1983, Gary advises me that Nottingham would receive several large cases of components and materials directly from Alpina HQ. It would be up to the team at Nottingham to fit these materials to specific BMWs and build them into Alpinas following the highquality standards and procedures the brand is famous for. It was all done by hand, which is absolutely incredible to think of when, as we know that now the cars are built on the same production line as standard BMWs. There are, of course, many benefits to having Alpinas built by BMW on their production lines, such as quality and consistency. But it really shows how much things have changed since 1983.

I was really surprised to learn that the relationship between Alpina HQ in Germany and Alpina GB is very close. So much so that, whilst I was with him, Gary took a phone call from Alpina HQ. Other than the sporadic phone calls and emails, there are set meetings between the two companies which happen weekly with topics covering sales, forecasts, stock, etc.

Since January 2021, every Sytner BMW retailer in the UK is now approved to sell a new Alpina vehicle. In practice, what this actually means is that every centre now has an Alpina specialist on hand who has undertaken the relevant product training and knowledge as well the dealer having an Alpina vehicle on display. Given that every Sytner BMW retailer can sell new Alpinas now, I was interested to learn how this is all managed. I learnt from Gary that everything is filtered through Nottingham and that there are weekly meetings with Nottingham and all of the other Sytner BMW retailers to discuss all things Alpina.

As we all know, especially those who attended my tour of BMW Thorne, BMW Killingholme Vehicle Distribution Centre and BMW Southampton VDC are where new BMWs destined for the UK and Irish

markets end up for pre-delivery checks before their delivery to BMW retailers. For Alpina though, this is very different. This is where the exclusivity and the real sense of personal service comes in. New Alpinas are actually collected by Nottingham from Alpina HQ in Buchloe directly. Depending on how many are ready for collection, Nottingham may arrange to collect just one Alpina, but it’s more likely they will pick up several as a batch. Now once built and ready, rather than the cars going to a BMW Vehicle Distribution Centre, like Killingholme or Southampton, the cars are actually delivered directly to the selling Sytner retailer. So, for example, if Nottingham ordered a new D3 Touring and, once it was built and ready for collection from Buchloe, Nottingham would arrange to go and collect it and have it delivered directly to Nottingham. Then it would undertake the pre-delivery checks. What this means is that there is no waiting for a huge vehicle container ship to make its way from Europe to the UK. It is very much a direct delivery, which also saves considerable time. At the time of writing this, there are 12 Alpinas on the way from Germany to their very lucky owners in the UK.

Whilst Sytner is the only official importer of new Alpina cars for the UK, used Alpinas are a different story. As some of you may have seen, Sytner does sell used Alpinas too, but so do their competitors under the Approved Used Car (AUC) programme. However, Gary is keen to point out to me that they often receive phone calls from competitor retailers asking for valuations and technical details of a used Alpina they wish to retail and, in the good spirit of things, Gary does try to help where possible.

I wanted to quiz Gary on the entrylevel product of an Alpina. Back in the mid 2000s, Alpina decided to launch an entry-level car for the UK market, the E90 Alpina D3. And later the E90 D3 Bi-Turbo. Whilst this was a great success for Alpina, the main driving factor behind it was to generate brand awareness and make an Alpina more affordable. Since then, there really has been no other Alpina at a similar price point and Gary explains that doing something like this is very expensive for the business. It requires a huge research and development investment. Bespoke parts and future parts availability need to be created and production lines also need to be adapted, so we are very unlikely to see a more affordable Alpina on the market soon. Such as one based on a 1 or 2 Series, for example.

The current biggest seller is the G21 B3 Touring, which received 5 out of 5 by Autocar UK when it was reviewed. Whilst the flagship Alpina may be the B7, there are also a couple of new additions to the family, including the huge XB7 and the stunning B8 Gran Coupé. Unfortunately, on the day of my visit, the B8 Gran Coupé, of which the Sytner-owned one is the only one in the UK, was out with the press for review.

One thing that I was really interested to hear was the Alpina customer profile. Generally, a customer does not walk into a Sytner BMW centre wanting to buy a 3 Series Touring and then decide to buy a B3 Touring. Gary stated that following some correspondence, an Alpina customer walks into a Sytner BMW centre with the intention of buying and only buying an Alpina and not a BMW or M product. Alpina customers tend to know what they are getting with an Alpina and all of the specialness and exclusivity it brings over BMW and BMW M’s offerings.

Gary has been in this role for several years now and I wanted to ask him the biggest thing that has changed over the last 10 years. I grinned at his response. Technology was the swift response. Whereas before drivers would be driving their cars, drivers now also talk to their cars and use the BMW Assistant to undertake various functions such as changing the heating or the radio station, just by saying “Hey BMW!” and telling the car what you want.

But what about the future for Alpina? What does Gary see as some of the things to watch out for over the next few years. Electrification of cars is something that he is all too aware of and Alpina HQ must decide how they will accomplish this. Reduction of emissions is always an on-going discussion as well as incorporating some form of mild-hybrid into Alpinas. Gary was keen to point out that diesel Alpinas are still a great seller since they still work for so many people. And I think that pretty much justifies one of Alpinas biggest strengths: comfort, luxury, power and performance twinned with diesel power.

Other than getting to spend time with Gary, the other outstanding highlight of my tour was getting to see the Sytner owned E21 323 C1 2.3 (conversion). The car was not on display at the centre on the day I was there and so, after a short five-minute walk to a secure facility, tucked away in a corner I saw the stunning E21. I was told by Gary that it runs fine and all work is complete on it. It just needs an MOT, taxing and, above all, a really good run. My photos really do not do the car justice, but it is in outstanding condition having covered just over 30,000 miles. The interior looks as if it has never been sat in, although this is also partly down to the fact that the seats and leather have recently been refurbished and retrimmed. Not by anyone, either, but by the same person who did them all those years ago and who came out of retirement recently to do the work.

I should add that Sytner BMW have absolutely no intention of selling the car since they love to bring it to the centre for display where possible or have it on display at shows.

And with that, my tour and time with Gary ended. The standout headline for me was how much of a personal service it is for buying such an exclusive car and the operations that go behind it to make it all happen. Coupled with all of those traits I mentioned at the beginning of this article, Sytner BMW Nottingham really do have a fantastic and bespoke operation and Alpina HQ should be very proud of the job that Nottingham does.

My sincere thanks to Gary and Matt at Sytner BMW Nottingham for their valuable time and allowing me to come down to have a good chat and look around.