I suppose current that impending approval requirements would have been too expensive for a small company to meet.  I remember that on a visit to Buchloe we were told that Alpina made more money from their wine business than their cars, so I guess a takeover was inevitable. 

At least Alpina can design a nice interior, which is more than BMW's army of failed stylists can manage!  The takeover may be an overdue shot in the arm for BMW.

The problem is that Alpina may go the way of Glas, who BMW swore to keep in being, but after about six months the factory became a spare parts depot.

Perhaps Alpina will go back to their roots, and produce some decent go-faster bits, such as cylinder heads etc, as there is a real shortage of such things - all that UK owners seem to want are tasteless bits of glitter and imitiation carbon fibre . . .

The trouble is that BMW have only usually taken over failing concerns, such as Rover Group and Glas, where the real estate value exceeded that of the company.  A company in its prime, such as Alpina, is a different thing, which may end up improving the parent company.  A Rolls-Royce is still regarded as a Roller, even if it has a BMW engine.

Perhaps we should remember that most of an Alpina is built by BMW anyway, with items such as the engine, suspension, and interior added to it - even if an Alpina were built to the same standards at Regensburg, it would still be an Alpina.  If it were still built at Buchloe, which is ideal for their small volume production, and is the sensible option, there would be few questions.

Just wait until BMW take over Morgan, with whom they have very close for years!  Their dreadful cars may be profitable now, but like many small manufacturers they are facing potential expense from the number and intensity of future safety and emission requirements facing them, not to mention the impending change to electric drive.

For quite a few years Alpinas have been built on the BMW production lines, with just some tweaking at Buchloe. Last time I was in the Munich plant I was surprised to watch an Alpina in full regalia trundle past on the line.

Yes - on a factory visit about twenty  years ago we saw Alpinas on the assembly line at Regensurg, using engine, seats and other special items supplied from Alpina, after which the cars were taken to Buchloe for final finishing and checking. Engines were still hand-built at Buchloe, so the 'heart' of the car is still Alpina-built, rather than being assembled by the robots at Graz, in Austria.  Does that make an Alpina a BMW?

I hope that the existing Alpina factory remains viable, as it would be a pity if their team of people who build engines and seats etc were to lose their jobs, but the operation is sufficiently small to be flexible.

I guess that as Alpina is classed by the TuV as a full manufacturer, they have had to make the same investment in crash test cars as BMW, whereas as a division of BMW they can ride on the back of the type approval which has been satisfied by the base model, thereby making a large saving.

Of course, a lot of people will claim that this is 'The end of Alpina,' but I wonder how many of them have ever bought a new one!  Buying a new car is the only way to really support a manufacturer - buying a good used Alpina does not make money for the company at Buchloe, so as with any small volume operation there are considerable benefits in amalgamation.