Before BMW fully acquired Alpina as its own entity (that it hopefully doesn’t just turn into a trim package for the 7 Series), it was its own manufacturer. Alpina would take BMWs, strip much of them down, and replace many of the parts with its own. Now that BMW bought Alpina from its former owners, the Bovensiepen family, they weren’t just going to stop making fantastically luxurious, effortlessly fast BMWs. So this is what they came up with: the Bovensiepen Zagato, a hand-built sports coupe based on the BMW M4. And it costs $433,805.
Calling it an M4 is a bit unfair. It does start life as an M4 convertible, but becomes something very different indeed. Bovensiepen collaborated with the iconic Italian car design studio Zagato to create an entirely new looking body from any BMW. That new body is also fully carbon fiber, made from over 400 different parts, and it takes 250 hours to build the entire car. Some of its angles look great, others look awkward. But there’s no denying that it’s something special and it looks different enough from a 4 Series that few will every even ask you about it.
Source: Bovensiepen
Under the hood is a heavily modified version of BMW’s S58 3.0-liter twin-turbo straight-six. For Bovensiepen-duty, it makes 611 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque, more than any BMW product with that engine. In typical Alpina fashion, Bovensiepen upgraded the S58’s intake and exhaust systems, as well as give it new turbos. A titnium Akrapovic exhaust should make it sound spicier, too. Bovensiepen claims it hits 62 mph in 3.3 seconds, which makes it faster than any M4. The top speed limiter has been removed, too, so the Zagato should be able to reach 186 mph.
The Bovensiepen is a shockingly cool car, built by a family who used to tune the wildest BMWs, and the Zagato is no different. However, I do struggle to see how many customers will drop that kind of money on a car that barely looks different than a 4 Series inside. Bovensiepen’s online configurator is live, in case you want to fantasize about owning one someday.
