Quote:
Originally Posted by TheBingoBalls
Quote:
Originally Posted by LakeSurfer
I'm floored at how many think that Alpina will continue to be its own brand as if BMW just purchased them for fun. forget about what you think Alpina is, was and will ever be, just like the M brand, it doesn't matter. Alpina is a name that BMW purchased. They bought the rights to the name and that's all. They didn't buy great ideas for cars in the past present or future, they bought a name. And what will BMW do with that name? Ask Carroll Shelby, or AMG or the M division. You dont want to hear it and neither do I but consider Alpina a trim level from now on and not a bespoke builder. They might do some cool stuff with it from time to time just like M but the thrill is gone and mass production sales are the future for BMW.
How many people are gonna buy the 2024 M228i Alpina edition? They're already sold out, because we only care a little.
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On the flip side, you know what brand you just described? Rolls Royce. They just bought the name, they didn't buy anything else - just the name and the Spirit of Ecstasy. There's no reason to believe BMW couldn't treat ALPINA the same. Obviously no one knows until 2025, but the dilution everyone is afraid will happen only works if ALPINA is a known name - it's not. So there is no real reason to make ALPINA into a trim like "M-Sport" or treat it like BMW M when most people don't even know what ALPINA is.
Like I said earlier, if BMW wanted to go this route and start watering things down, they could have EASILY just turned "BMW Individual" into a trim, they wouldn't even need to buy ALPINA and their production of less than 2,000 vehicles per year. |
I agree that we don't know but I say will certainty, it will be a trim level because that's all the average BMW owner will see or care about. Rolls Royce was a car when the spirit was purchased so they bought it and built a "rolls Royce". Weather or not it, today is a "true" rolls is debatable. But either way it was a stand alone vehicle before and today it still is.
Alpina, however, is not a stand alone car or a stand alone anything to most it's a package and to all the soccer mom, executives, and one uppers who drive BMWs having a higher more expensive, exclusive trim makes for an easy buck. They would be stupid and it makes zero sense to make individual a trim level because individual doesn't have a name built for itself like Alpina or M and it's already a part of the company. Now buyers will be able to buy just about any base model with a few upgrades to make it an M and then a few more to make it an Alpina and then drop a few thousand more for the paint shop to throw a little pearl in the paint or put better speakers in it or whatever. Alpina babe stands for far more than what individual does. If individual was its own trim level then they lose out on people feeling like they have something truly special.
A Fortune 500 company does not acquire a business with the intentions of keeping that business the same. They buy it to expand on it, they buy it as an investment potential, they buy it to really exploit what that company does. And they paid far more for Alpina than what Alpina makes in profits. If Alpina makes $10 million per year then BMW probably paid $50 million for it. It would take 5 years or far more for any ROI and I'm sure it would take more than that, all things considered. I'm sure my numbers are wrong but that's about how it works.
If you're a real estate investor you will expand you're income by buying properties and putting money into them and flipping them to maximize profits. What you're suggesting is that that same investor buys properties and doesn't touch them but instantly flips them, doesn't put on a new roof or fix the floors, just a strait you flip. Both ways you make money but what way makes more? What does BMW care about? Making a unique product for a couple thousand people per year or making a "unique" product and sell to a couple million people per year? BMW does not care about a couple thousand car sales they care about car sales in the millions.