Alpina is back! Sort of! Meet the 603bhp, BMW M4-based Bovensiepen Zagato

Meet the brand new Bovensiepen Zagato, a product of a small outfit working out of Buchloe in Bavaria. Which is in Germany. It is a powerful, 603bhp two-door GT, and it is – oh, right, the name.

“The name Bovensiepen is no stranger in the automotive industry,” said the company, “and now it stands for a manufacturer of exceptional automobiles that embody the concept of ‘fine driving’.”

That’s right, Alpina’s founding family – the Bovensiepens – have started their own company having sold that beloved name to BMW back in 2022. The first offering? A… BMW.

But it is no ordinary BMW, because Bovensiepen has tasked Zagato with reshaping the BMW M4 into something quite unique, and entirely out of carbon fibre. And one that wants to bring back some of the allure of the automobile.

“As two family businesses, we still view the automobile through romantic eyes,” said Andrea Zagato. “Today, many vehicles are highly standardised, and their romance is being lost.”

To rekindle that romance, Zagato chief designer Norihiko Harada ushered in “a kind of mixture of Italian flair, a kind of sexy and soft design, and a German, very solid, almost architectural structure”.

The first thing that’ll strike you is Zagato’s studious binning of the M4’s kidney grille, replacing it with a single, streamlined intake supplemented by a pair of huge cheeks for side intakes. There are new headlights. A U-shaped vent in the bonnet. And the obligatory double-bubble roof and rear window because Zagato.

The rear’s been almost squared off compared to its BMW sibling, with a straighter cut bottom end where the old diffuser sat, new rear headlights, fins on either side and an elegant ducktail spoiler. The quad tailpipes are present and correct, mind.

Tailipipes stuck on the end of a new lightweight Akrapovic exhaust system that cuts 40 per cent from the M4’s stock exhaust weight and is said to reduce back pressure “significantly”. That’s married to a few other unlisted mods to boost the Bimmer’s 3.0-litre turbo six from 523bhp to 603bhp and 516lb ft.

That chops but two tenths off the M4’s 0-62mph time – now 3.3s – and uncorks a top speed of beyond 186mph. Bovensiepen’s bolted in Bilsten dampers offering three driving modes – comfort, sport and sport plus – and fitted 20in forged wheels.

Neither Bovensiepen nor Zagato appear to have messed with the M4’s interior, but have layered it in copious amounts of leather and aluminium and blue. Naturally each car can be personalised to your heart’s content. And each car will take over 250 hours to complete.

How much you’ll pay for such extravagance has yet to be revealed, nor how many of these will be built. But it’s the start of something new for Andreas and Florian Bovensiepen.

“In the future, Bovensiepen will realize exciting automotive projects that combine precision and harmony in the form of timeless design and outstanding engineering,” said this small outfit working out of Buchloe in Bavaria.

And what about Alpina? New BMW designer and ex-Polestar man Max Missoni is in charge of carving out the cult tuner's new identity. "I’m really confident that this will be an exciting journey with Alpina," Missoni told TopGear.com.

"When we dove into the brand and all its peculiarities, there were so many wonderfully whimsical things to discover, beyond the technology and performance side but also on the design and storytelling side. There are many new brands that struggle to be seen and heard because they have no history or relevance. Alpina might be small but it still creates an emotional connection."