You have never heard of Alpina for good reason. The German automaker has quietly built some of the most popular high-performance luxury cars in the world, with top speeds that violate the road laws of most countries-this is the CEO Andreas Bowensipon (Andreas Bovensiepen) intends to keep the way.
Buchloe, a small town in southern Germany, has about 13,000 people. This is a quiet little village in a mixed residential area between the rolling greens of Bavaria and the breathtaking Alps. Although it is the home of the famous European cream cheese brand, it is also known for something more unorthodox—the birthplace of passenger cars designed for more than 300 km/h.
"When the weather is good, we can see the Alps. By driving 60 kilometers, you can go skiing in the mountains," Andreas Bovensiepen proudly boasted in his office meeting room.
"My father and brother live on site; I personally live in Munich, but I grew up in an in-house factory."
It is this extreme ambiguity about life and work that made Alpina's name rise in the ranks over two generations in 56 years. In its infancy, it was a family business that helped define the golden age of European motorsport. Today, it brings the same performance DNA into the field of small-volume luxury car manufacturing in a way that no other car manufacturer has.
This is also a good reason for those who have never heard of Alpina. The secret of the brand's long-term success can be attributed to its "if you know, you know" business model-this strategy drives the demand and exclusivity of each of its limited-release products, and its history can be traced back to its earliest creations. The evidence is in the numbers. Searching for the 2003 Alpina Roadster V8, you will most likely find a used car priced at around AUD 576,000 (approximately USD 404,300). This is not bad for a humble family business that also produces its own wine.
Today, Bovensiepen, the son of Alpina founder Burkard Bovensiepen, is the CEO of this customized German company that has developed some of the most exciting cars in sheepskin in the world.
Finding an elusive Alpina in the wild often raises similar questions: "Isn't this a BMW?" Yes and no will be the correct answer. Alpina's close relationship with BMW can be traced back to the early 1960s, when the company's founders first established a partnership.
"Our connection with BMW was accidental," Bovensiepen said. "My father attended the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1961 and saw the BMW 1500 and thought,'This is a pretty good car with a big engine compartment and a small carburetor.' Of course, he is in Bavaria, away from the BMW It's not far."
However, the story goes a little deeper than the convenience of just being close. As his family continued to expand, he needed a bigger car, which led him to choose the BMW 1500-a rather large passenger car at the time, equivalent to today's BMW 5 series.
After purchasing, he felt that the speed of the 1500 was not fast enough, so he purchased his own carburetor kit and bolted it to the BMW engine. In the early days, Alpina would basically become BMW's tuner, selling fast kits for those who want to improve car performance. When BMW did not have its own performance department, this particular niche was perfectly integrated into Alpina's business model, so much so that BMW itself recommended electricity-consuming customers to this small company.
BMW tested Alpina's products and decided that as long as Alpina covers its carburetor kit warranty, the vehicles on which they are installed will still retain the factory warranty. The rest, as they say, is history.
"If you are convinced of the product, then the product should be correct and successful in the market. It is short and simple, of course, the form obeys the function. Always pay attention to details."
Where did the humble typewriter come from? Alpina is not always in the business of manufacturing BMW cars with a speed of 300 kilometers per hour. But in fact, it's not. Under the leadership of Bovensiepen's grandfather, the company produced typewriters before attempting to switch to the textile industry. The move failed and the typing business was sold. It was his father who would resurrect Alpina's name and turn his only attention to modifying BMW. The reason for making such a big move is simple: he has no interest in typewriters and just wants to build an express car.
To this day, the core of the company is still German-style precision and functionality, but not flashy. Just as the Alpina nickname was chosen for its ease of pronunciation and connection to the Alps, its cars are designed to provide performance and sophistication in the purest form.
"Strive to make the best product", this is the most important business lesson Bovensiepen learned from his father.
"If you are convinced of the product, then the product should be correct and successful in the market. It is short and simple, of course, the form obeys the function. Always pay attention to details."
Bovensiepen is different from the usual company characters. A quick search of his name will return two profiles: "Alpina CEO" and "Racing Driver".
Although his love for express trains made him very handy when driving, he was never pushed by his father to take over the family business. "There is no pressure," he said.
"In 1976, when I was a student, my father drove me to school in an Alpina B7 Turbo prototype car. It was a 300-horsepower 5 series and 6 series development car. I will never forget the acceleration— —It's like a jet plane.
"It's incredible. I still remember it like yesterday because it was more dynamic than the Porsche Turbo. It was completely out of this world. If you were a little boy, you won't forget this experience."
Even his first car was not spared by a teenager who had a soft spot for speed. Bovensiepen changed the suspension and added a spoiler to the 6,500 euro hatchback he used, which was "cheap and rusty". By the age of 16, he claimed to be a motorcycle fanatic. When he was 18, he bought another bicycle, and he went bankrupt.
"I invested my money, but no more money," he said with a smile. "So I used my mother's car and the company's small truck. I can't afford a BMW."
In the late 1960s, Alpina grew up around cars and racing cars, when Alpina's team had iconic drivers like Niki Lauda. Naturally, this will deepen Bovensiepen's love for motorsports.
"You have participated in some races and it's hard not to be fascinated by cars. I participated in them very early, but when I started doing business, I didn't immediately cooperate with Alpina," he admitted.
"At the time, Alpina was not in the United States because my father only wanted to produce 500 cars for the world. In the United States, people can only travel at 60 miles per hour and cannot use our cars. So there is no point in going there."
Like most young people in the workforce, he came along, starting with a carbon fiber company, producing parts for the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series in the 1980s and 1990s. He finally found his way into BMW, where he worked in suspension development for two and a half years before his talent really came into play.
"We did E46, E36, Z3. At that time, I was asked to join the Z8 project for two and a half years. I was the person in charge of the weekly technical meeting. I also participated in the business meeting, where you can calculate the project cost," he shared road.
"It's very interesting because there is a group of people in special vehicles-BMW Z3, Z8 and X5. The SUV has just started, so they are looking for a small, motivated team and asked me if I am willing to help the project as a leader, and let this project start from A small development cost framework becomes a reality."
Bovensiepen believes that this opportunity is more than just an engineering and cost-saving activity. The X5 project will use M5 engines and manual transmissions in its domestic market, but by installing automatic transmissions, the US market can also aim to expand its sales window at the same time. He brought the same idea back to his father's business.
"At the time, Alpina was not in the United States because my father only wanted to produce 500 cars for the world. In the United States, people can only travel at 60 miles per hour and cannot use our cars. So there is no point in going there," he Say.
"But then I convinced my father that we must go to the United States; we must do this halo project for Alpina. Therefore, in the end we used nearly 10% of the entire BMW Z8 production volume and manufactured 555 Alpina Z8s.
"Today, if you want to buy a second-hand one, it will cost at least $350,000. This is a very good project."
After the success of the Alpina Z8 project, Bovensiepen's father did what any smart CEO would do-to give his son a place in the family business.
"My father said,'If you can join Alpina and work for us, that would be great.' Although I was still a member of the board of directors from the first day, we negotiated and reached an agreement. Worked in other companies. After seven and a half years, I finally joined Alpina."
When Alpina asked customers why they bought their cars in a survey, they got some interesting answers.
"The answer is that it is a very unique car, with suspension settings and power, and the fact that it is not sitting in every corner. And they have the main qualities of BMW, with good navigation and space-a large manufacturer's All the advantages, but in an exclusive car," Bovensiepen said.
This may be why the company chose to remain small and agile, even in the face of growing revenue data.
"Over the years, our turnover has grown far more than our sales figures. This year, we have produced more than 2,000 cars. Our turnover this year will reach 125 million euros," he explained.
The expansion of the automobile manufacturing industry also has obvious disadvantages. Alpina's winning formula has always relied on larger flagship BMW models. Although BMW has expanded its model range into more compact products, this is not the direction Alpina plans to follow as a small company.
"I think it is very important to produce one unit less than market expectations to keep prices high."
"As competition intensifies, expanding the product range to small cars like BMW will increase the difficulty of revenue. Our goal has always been to develop on larger cars such as the X7 or Gran Coupe.
"BMW also has M performance cars, so it makes no sense for us to compete with cars like M2. Especially since we can't make different bodies, and the development cost is too high."
Although Alpina's name was created in the fierce battle on the track, Bovensiepen believes that today's luxury market segment is the company's greatest potential for future success.
"In the past 10-15 years, we have made great progress in the luxury goods sector. I think it is very important to produce one unit less than the market expects to maintain high prices. Of course, we must grow because development costs are increasing every year. Growth, but we like to provide cars to customers who think it’s an exclusive car."
So where does Alpina stand between technological innovation and sound business management?
"Both are important. It is important to make very high-level technical products, but it is also important in the main markets," he explained.
"Only in Europe, it is not enough to cope with rising development costs. Expansion in Europe and Japan has always been our goal. Then I decided to go to the United States, and now I am also very happy to come to Australia."
When discussing the automotive industry, it is hard not to raise one of the most polarizing issues in the past decade that has been closely related to the entire world: the extinction of the internal combustion engine and the rise of electricity.
"Of course, electric cars are a game changer and transition, but I'm not sure it will be as far as today's politicians predict."
For a company like Alpina, this is a critical turning point because it is based (and will continue to be) built on tuning the gasoline engine of BMW's production line. Bovensiepen admits that he didn't think so far in terms of transitioning to a fully electric Alpinas. Despite the hype around alternative fuels, he is not even fully convinced that electric cars may become the panacea claimed by world leaders.
"To be honest, I haven't thought about it. Because I don't know what will happen here in 30 or 50 years," he admitted.
"We finally have a good basic product in BMW. Then we have to see what they do in the market. We need a convincing BMW basic car so that we can see what we can do.
"For Alpina, it is not only related to the engine, but also to the entire car. Higher horsepower, efficiency, ride comfort, space, and touring car characteristics. This is not only related to horsepower, because horsepower is easy to achieve, and electric cars can also Achieve higher power output."
He explained that the reason for Aplina's hesitation was "battery and range." "We have not made up our minds yet. First is the plug-in, but I think there will always be a market for people to look for special and different things: wheels, tires, suspension, appearance and aerodynamics.
"Of course, electric cars are a game-changing transition, but I'm not sure it will go as far as today's politicians predict.
"In Europe, the infrastructure is still not ready to electrify 30-50% of cars. It is not ready in big cities. If you live in a big apartment in a city and want to charge your car in a parking space, Then the probability of charging your electric car is only 5-10%, while others have to walk two kilometers to find a charging station.
"So I think it will be slower, but there are many green waves in Europe, and companies say they will achieve 50% all-electricity. This is more interesting for stock market investors."
When adopting electric vehicles, broader social problems must also be solved. How will the major populations of China, India and Africa respond to the transformation of infrastructure and the large amount of lithium needed to make batteries?
"There is a lot of discussion. I think there will be a mix of different technologies, such as hydrogen. I think this decision of the entire automotive industry is not made today.
"Electric cars still need to be charged with energy made from coal and carbon dioxide, so this is a bit weird. I am not as pessimistic about fossil fuel engines as some large companies in the next 10 years.
"I think in 10 to 15 years there will be customers who like to turn a key or press a button and hear the engine running. I think for a small company like Alpina, gasoline engines will also have a niche market."
Bovensiepen is very satisfied with the positioning of his brand today, even though it has broken away from the pure racing name. With its rich motorsport roots, Hyundai Alpina is often referred to as Germany's response to another iconic luxury car manufacturer.
"Sometimes the British media say that Alpina is like Bentley. So we entered this field. The average age of customers there is 5 years older. Who wouldn't say that I have to prove that I have the fastest car on German highways every day. Sometimes I can do it. , But I don’t need to show off to everyone like a schoolboy," he said with a smile.
The impressive range, luxury, comfort, rarity and speed are where Alpina flourishes today.
"I think everyone has to find their own place. Alpina started as a tuner in the 1960s, but then BMW Motorsport emerged on the track, Alpina developed among cars and people with very high mileage (50,000 kilometers or more) Get more.
"Then Alpina went in a certain direction, hoping to create the perfect luxury station wagon for long-distance driving-fast on the track, but also good overall comfort-sporty, very smooth, overwhelming torque and Easy to drive. With BMW Motorsport making very sporty cars, we will further develop Alpina into the luxury car segment."
Bovensiepen stated that this is a win-win situation for both Alpina and the BMW Group. BMW Motorsport is responsible for managing the sports car market, while Alpina is responsible for the luxury car market. "I think today, it is perfect for everyone," he explained.
Can the CEO of the legendary Alpina brand teach others how to succeed in the luxury industry today?
"I would say look at the largest market, develop a global strategy, look at the United States, Asia and Europe. What kind of product do you want? Do you have expertise in this area? Otherwise, you have to let the right team do it. . Make decisions quickly and produce reliable products.
“In Germany, when a brand new car is delivered, they receive a small box of Alpina wine instead of flowers for their wife. Customers can enjoy the wine in the evening,” Bovensiepen smiled.
Read the next article: Factory worker to CEO: The man who built Italy's craziest $2.9 million supercar
You must be logged in to leave a comment.
When he was young, Mike wanted to be a police officer, helicopter pilot, and pizza dough taster. All three failed, he turned to become a writer, and then wrote for male lifestyle publications DMARGE and GQ. He is now a member of the Grammar Police of CEO Magazine.