BMW tuner AC Schnitzer will shut down at the end of 2026

BMW tuner AC Schnitzer has announced it will soon stop tuning BMWs. Which means a story that began way back in 1987 with a modified E32 7 Series will end in 2026.

The company says rising costs in designing, developing and building aftermarket parts have created “competitive disadvantages”. It cites in particular the “extremely long approval process for parts in the German system” that has caused the long-running tuner to “fall further and further behind its non-German competitors”.

“If we can only bring aftermarket parts to market eight or nine months after the competition, that speaks for itself,” said ACS’s managing director Rainer Vogel.

Vogel noted that ACS – like other tuners – had “not succeeded in inspiring young customers to enjoy sporty driving with our brand to the same extent as their fathers’ generation did”.

ACS also said changing customer behaviour, worsening international market conditions – tariffs, rising costs in raw materials, volatile exchange rates, basically the world generally being on fire since 2020 – and “the gradual phase-out of the internal combustion engine” has made running a tuning company very, very challenging.

“Making a rational decision regarding a business segment that is so emotionally charged is not easy,” Vogel added. “But as a family-owned business, we always think in terms of the entire Kohl Group and its stable future.”

AC Schnitzer was of course founded by Willi Kohl and Herbert Schnitzer back in 1987 in Aachen (the AC bit) under the Kohl automobile GmbH parent company. Not only did it tune BMWs, it also raced touring and rally cars, set world records with a modified E63 M6 and LPG-powered 335i, and opened up its tuning to incorporate Minis, Range Rovers and even the GR Supra.

“The Kohl Group is in talks with parties interested in acquiring the AC Schnitzer brand,” the company said, “but regardless of the outcome of these discussions, existing inventory will be sold off by the end of the year.”