Diesel drama for Alpina

Companies in the business of building fuel-guzzling cars are scrabbling to develop more efficient alternatives to balance out fleet average consumption figures.

But Alpina is one company in no rush to introduce more economical models.

The company will continue building its exclusive range of luxurious, high-performance cars for the foreseeable future, says Andreas Bovensiepen – son of the company founder and Proprietor, Sales & Marketing for the niche-volume manufacturer.

In Australia for the launch of the 2018 Alpina B5 Biturbo, Bovensiepen did admit, however, that proposed legislation to reduce diesel NOx emissions could force the company to rethink its business model.

Europe introduced new emission legislation, the WLTP (Worldwide Harmonized Light-Duty Vehicles Test Procedure), from September last year. By September 2018, WLTP will apply to all new cars.

Under this new emissions legislation regime in Europe, Alpina is deemed to be a 'small manufacturer' and its average fleet emissions ceiling is significantly higher than that mandated for manufacturers producing cars in larger volumes. Alpina can meet that target with its existing and upcoming products because the company's diesel models, such as the XD3 coming to Australia soon lower the average consumption figure across the range.

"For small manufacturers, you have to negotiate with the European commission your own targets," Bovensiepen explained. "So we have Alpina-related targets, but of course we have to show a road map from a certain value... how we've come down.

"Our target currently is 210g/km.

"We will fulfil it [meeting the target], no problem currently, because we still have a higher number of diesel cars as well."

But if diesels are banned on a large scale throughout Europe, "then it would get tricky for us as well," the Alpina exec acknowledged.

Although the need to develop and build eco-friendly models isn't as pressing for Alpina as it is for BMW, that doesn't mean the smaller company is asleep at the wheel.

"To prepare for these stricter emissions rules we established back in 2008 a huge development centre with five [dynos] and with [a rolling-road emissions dyno] as well," Bovensiepen revealed.

"We are able to cope with these emissions, but of course for us it’s a big part of the daily work to fulfil all emissions [testing and certification]."

Some of the alt-energy solutions being proposed for emissions legislation compliance are not specifically on the agenda at Alpina – not yet, at least. Bovensiepen says that Alpina and its customers are of like mind, as far as hybrids and battery/electric vehicles are concerned.

"We are monitoring the market, but currently – especially in our target group – the [buyers] like to have the motions, the sounds, and they like to accelerate fast.

"We in Germany have about 1500 people buying a Tesla Model S... but if you look at the motorways in Germany they go 100km/h – maximum 120km/h – because otherwise they run out of battery too fast.

"So it's not a car for our type of customer."

Alpina is open to future technology that could combine eco-friendly solutions with traditional driving satisfaction, Bovensiepen says, but initiatives like 48-Volt systems will likely be driven by BMW for its mainstream range – with Alpina to adopt such technology as part of the core vehicle's base specification.

"This will come. BMW will come up in the next [few] years with this kind of tech, and of course we will [adopt] this.

"In some years from now, probably we will have a hybrid car as well, but currently... our customers are luxury customers... and the current BMW hybrid strategy is mainly four-cylinder... but our customer's not a four-cylinder guy."

Bovensiepen admits that Alpina will have choose carefully the projects it undertakes, given the relatively low production volumes involved, and the consequent revenues available for R&D.

"If we are too early with the new tech in the market we cannot do a lot of additional models. Maybe we have to decide, do we have a B4, or a B4 Hybrid?

"But not both, because it's a matter of development costs..."

If the situation should change, and the market for hybrid-drive models "starts to rocket up", Alpina could bring to market an appropriate model based on a BMW "within two years", Bovensiepen stated.