Alpina B7
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| Public, GmbH & Co. KG | |
| Industry | Automotive |
| Founded | 1965 |
| Headquarters | Buchloe, Germany |
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Key people
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Burkard Bovensiepen |
| Products | Automobiles |
| Website | alpina-automobile.de |
Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen GmbH & Co. KG is an automobile manufacturing company based in Buchloe, in the Ostallgäu district of Bavaria, Germany selling their own cars, based on BMW cars.
Alpina works closely with BMW and their processes are integrated into BMW's production lines, thus Alpina is recognized by the German Ministry of Transport as an automobile manufacturer, in contrast to other performance specialists which are aftermarket tuners. For instance, the Alpina B7 is produced at the same assembly line in Dingolfing, Germany, along with BMW's own 7-Series. For the 2011 model year, the B7's twin-turbo 4.4-litre BMW V8 is assembled by hand at Alpina's facility in Buchloe, Germany, before being shipped to BMW for installation, and the assembled vehicle is then sent back to Alpina for finishing touches.
The firm was founded in 1965 by Burkard Bovensiepen, a member of the Bovensiepen family of industrialists.
The beginnings of Alpina found its roots in 1962 as the Weber dual carburetor was developed for the new BMW 1500. The company would not be officially founded until a few years later as the Weber dual carburetor came to completion and was certified around 1964 by BMW, receiving praise from the chief of sales, Paul Hahnemann.
Alpina was founded by Burkard Bovensiepen (b. 1936) in 1965 as Burkard Bovensiepen KG in Kaufbeuren, Bavaria in southern Germany. The original name can be traced to Dr. Rudolf Bovensiepen, his father, whose company produced office machinery.
Although Alpina started by producing typewriters, the original Alpina ceased to exist at the end of the 1960s in their attempt to move into the textile industry. In 1965, Burkard established a BMW tuning business, following his success with investments in the stock market. He started the tuning business in an outbuilding of the original Alpina typewriter factory. The company worked on carburetors and revised cylinder heads. By 1970, with seventy employees, the original facility changed locations from Kaufbeuren to Buchloe.
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