{"id":1937326,"date":"2026-05-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1937326"},"modified":"2026-05-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:00:00","slug":"the-b7-is-back-bmw-alpinas-first-model-will-be-a-non-hybrid-v8-7-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1937326","title":{"rendered":"The B7 is back: BMW Alpina\u2019s first model will be a *non-hybrid* V8 7 Series"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Good news for enthusiasts of inexplicably rare-groove carmakers: the first model to emerge from the newly built stable of BMW Alpina will be a big, expensive, ultra-luxury four-door limousine. The Alpina B7 is back, and it\u2019ll be a V8.<\/p>\n

A V8 without a hybrid, because neue<\/em> Alpina \u2013 now officially part of the BMW Group as of January 2026<\/a> \u2013 will initially stand for pure eight-cylinder power. \u201cA combustion engine and also a V8 is a core pillar of our offering,\u201d BMW Alpina boss Oliver Viellechner told TopGear.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cA pure V8 without a plug,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Pictured: the <\/em>Vision BMW Alpina concept<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019ll likely be a version of BMW\u2019s 4.4-litre V8 but heavily upgraded as has always been the Alpina way. \u201cThe engine of an Alpina can\u2019t be the same as the engine in a base model 7 Series,\u201d Viellechner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey must be differentiated. Those are the areas Alpina stands for: powertrain, chassis, driving and so on,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We already know the default drive mode in every BMW Alpina will be \u2018Comfort+\u2019, which goes above and beyond the calibration of BMW\u2019s own \u2018Comfort\u2019 setting. From there, the \u2018Sport\u2019 and \u2018Sport+\u2019 modes have been junked in favour of \u2018Speed\u2019 and \u2018Speed+\u2019, which gives you some indication as to how Alpina is being pitched.<\/p>\n

Not just in terms of the physical driving experience, but also in philosophy. \u201cWe won\u2019t talk about volumes,\u201d Viellechner told TopGear.com when asked on how many cars it\u2019s expecting to sell, \u201cbut we will steer Alpina very differently from BMW.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will look much more towards Rolls-Royce. Yes, [Alpina production in the past] was<\/em> limited, but it was limited geography, so one thing we will definitely change is [to make it] a global offering.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat gives a slightly different size of volumes, but we\u2019re not changing that dimension substantially. It will continue to be really exclusive and limited,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Alpina design boss Max Missoni added: \u201cYou can be rare in single markets. We will not deliberately be rare, because if there\u2019s demand, that\u2019s great. It\u2019s more about having a wider scope [as a result of being in the big BMW ecosystem] but still being very careful where you start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking further into the future, there\u2019ll likely be electric Alpinas, too. \u201cWe believe we will need non-combustion variants going forward,\u201d Viellechner told TG. \u201cIt will not be so relevant at the beginning, but we will also find it difficult to launch a combustion-only brand these days.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look to markets like China for example, I could not see that as the right strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what about a strategy that includes the smaller Alpinas like the B3 and B5 that we all know and love? \u201cDefinitely not at the start,\u201d he said. \u201cI think long-term the brand has the potential to, but it will be wrong to do that at the start. And not as the immediate second step either because it\u2019s quite a stretch.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s something that he\u2019s not ruling out. \u201cI believe the approach of refinement and chassis and powertrain differentiation works in every segment,\u201d he said. \u201cToday for example, a B3 GT Touring is being sold in Munich for 130,000. A 3 Series, for 130k, is for me another strong signal, because some markets are just looking for smaller cars.<\/p>\n

\u201cJapan, for instance, is a very good example. 500 Alpinas are being sold there every year, with 400 being a 3 Series or an X3,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He also looks at the US when it comes to the pricing of all new Alpinas \u2013 again, he wouldn\u2019t say exactly how much they\u2019d cost, noting only that they\u2019d start where the most expensive BMW stops, and end just before a Rolls-Royce kicks off. A big, lucrative bit of the car market swimming with \u2018ultra high net worth individuals\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe US is for me quite interesting,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause there Alpina only offered the luxury class \u2013 the B7, B8, XB7 \u2013 and those models are selling at $200,000 with essentially no discount.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat signals there is already a good potential. I think after that the other ingredients are a strong community and building great desirability.\u201d<\/p>\n

That desirability will partly rest in BMW Alpina\u2019s focus on individualisation \u2013 only select BMW dealerships around the globe will be allowed to sell Alpinas (and there\u2019ll be special areas in the showroom for it), while select BMW factories will be upscaled to deal with the depth of bespokerisation that\u2019ll be on offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re much more separate from BMW than M is,\u201d said Viellechner, \u201cand nurturing this community is very important to Alpina.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good news for enthusiasts of inexplicably rare-groove carmakers: the first model to emerge from the newly built stable of BMW Alpina will be a big, expensive, ultra-luxury four-door limousine. The Alpina B7 is back, and it\u2019ll be a V8. A V8 without a hybrid, because neue Alpina \u2013 now officially part of the BMW Group […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-1937326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1937326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1937326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1937326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1937326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1937326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1937326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}