ALPINA News
ALPINA in Australia
ALPINA enters the Australian market. From now on, the Australian company “The In Motion Group” (TIMG) based in Melbourne will act as the importer for BMW ALPINA automobiles, operating under the name “ALPINA Automobiles – Australia”. The ALPINA brand will initially be represented at the retail outlets BMW Doncaster and BMW Bundoora. The In Motion Group is also planning locations in other selected areas so as to ensure broad market coverage. These are expected to be announced by the end of 2016.
Initially the petrol models based on the BMW 3 Series and 4 Series will be available in Australia, starting with the BMW ALPINA B4 Bi-Turbo Coupé, which has been homologated for sales from November onwards. Meanwhile, homologation of the models BMW ALPINA B4 Bi-Turbo Convertible and BMW ALPINA B3 Bi-Turbo Sedan and Touring is in progress. The first demonstration vehicles are also planned to arrive in November.
The Chief Executive Officer of BMW Australia, Marc Werner, welcomes the market entry of ALPINA: “ALPINA has a long tradition of producing distinctive automobiles based on BMW models and we look forward to their presence in Australia.” The collaboration between ALPINA and TIMG was officially confirmed by BMW Australia at the beginning of July. Patrick Fielding, General Manager of TIMG, was also highly enthusiastic: “ALPINA has an outstanding worldwide reputation for producing individual automobiles that perfectly combine luxurious comfort with a dynamic driving response.” He added that TIMG was very pleased to be responsible for launching the brand in Australia.
Market entry in Australia is an obvious move for ALPINA. “The brand has been very popular with Australians for a long time and there are already a large number of older BMW ALPINA models in the market. A lot of Australians are ‘car guys’. We’re getting increasing requests for BMW ALPINA automobiles from Down Under, so we believe the market has great potential,” says Managing Director Andreas Bovensiepen.