The 205 MPH B8 GT Might Be The Last Alpina As We Know It

For more than 50 years, Alpina has created some of the coolest BMWs on the road. Many of them haven’t officially come to North America, but that hasn’t stopped enthusiasts from coveting them, to the point of waiting 25 years to legally import them. However, the time of Alpina as we know it is coming to an end the B8 GT might be the last car the company builds before becoming part of BMW.

See, back in 2022, Alpina agreed to sell its tuning brand to BMW, with a full transfer planned for Jan. 1, 2026. The Buchloe-based business will soon focus only on heritage models, and I can’t blame it. Tougher emissions legislation, challenges in software regulation, and growing requirements for advanced driver assistance systems all put pressure on Alpina as a small registered manufacturer, and increasing enthusiast focus on older models means offloading the new vehicle side of the business to BMW and focusing on aftersales support makes sense for the brand.

Still, we’ll miss seeing Alpina’s unique takes on building the ultimate BMWs for the road largely independent of BMW. It’s a far less hardcore approach than M, which is appreciated since cars like the M8 Competition can sometimes be unbearably harsh on the street. Meanwhile, every Alpina I’ve driven has simply been effortless. Effortlessly swift, effortlessly comfortable, effortlessly deft in the bends. In the current lineup, the B8 is one of my favorites, and the B8 GT should improve on that formula.

It all essentially starts with an M850i Gran Coupe, a four-door version of a two-door version of a four-door car that’s capable, but certainly not without room for improvement. Alpina? It’s the improver, and it starts with the heart of the machine. The N63 turbocharged V8 gets turned up to a whopping 625 horsepower thanks in part to breathing and mapping tweaks, and just as importantly, a monstrous 627 lb.-ft. of torque. Paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel-drive, Alpina claims the B8 GT can run from zero-to-62 mph in 3.3 seconds and max out at 205 mph if you find a clear stretch of derestricted Autobahn and keep your foot in it. That makes it one of the fastest sedans in the world, a pretty good club to be in.

However, sheer speed isn’t where the story of the B8 GT ends. It also gets its own suspension calibration featuring a Comfort+ mode like you’d see in the regular B8. Despite the rubber band sidewalls on those massive 21-inch multispoke wheels, the mission here is to dance rather than attack. At the same time, a new strut brace up front enhances rigidity, torque distribution is more rear-biased than on a regular 8 Series, and even the limited-slip rear differential is set up to be on its toes.

On the outside, the distinction between the Alpina B8 GT and the standard B8 is mostly subtle. You get a carbon fiber diffuser, new vents in the fenders, a spot of carbon on the front lip, a small pair of canards, and oh yeah, the option of two-tone paint. Granted, Alpina models have always been subtly unsubtle from the massive wheels to the signature graphics, but it all has a history of actually coming together. I doubt that many other large four-doors could rock canards, but somehow, they don’t seem wildly out of place here.

Only 99 of these Alpina B8 GT limited-run, um, Gran Coupes are slated for production, and pricing is something else. Although the model isn’t expected to make it to America, pricing in Europe is quite high. Figure a starting price of €225,000, with options like the €11,500 two-tone paint poised to bring the sticker higher. Still, considering this might very well be the end of an era, it might be worth it to the Alpina-obsessed.

(Photo credits: Alpina)

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