Remembering Burkard Bovensiepen

The Bovensiepen family and the employees of ALPINA mourn the loss of company founder and creator of BMW ALPINA cars, Burkard Bovensiepen, who passed away on October 12th, 2023, at the age of 87.

Burkard Bovensiepen was born in 1936 on September 1st in Chemnitz. From a young age, he had a burning passion for cars. After graduating from high school, he completed an apprenticeship as a toolmaker. Subsequently, he began studying mechanical engineering at TU Munich and later switched to business administration.

In the early 60s, Burkard Bovensiepen had the idea of developing performance-enhancing carburettor intake systems for various automotive brands.

The perfect model for this turned out to be the new BMW 1500 featuring a "state of the art" 4-cylinder engine and plenty of space in the engine bay. In 1963, the first ALPINA carburettor intake system for the BMW 1500 finished development and a first car was put on the road. Subsequent testing by the German “auto motor und sport” magazine provided excellent reviews and publicity.

In September, the International Motor Show took place in Frankfurt. The young entrepreneur couldn't afford his own booth. Instead, he tucked his first brochure describing the dual carburettor intake system under the windshield wipers of every BMW 1500 he could find in the parking lot – a clever marketing move that secured the sale of the first hundred carburettor kits.

Good news also came from BMW in Munich. They issued a customer service notice stating that the performance enhancement could safely be added to the engine and that the BMW warranty remained valid, essentially a nod of approval from the BMW board.

Burkard adopted the ALPINA name from his father's typewriter factory – a wink to the nearby Alps and yet international sounding. To make the company known worldwide, ALPINA entered motorsports in the late 1960s. In his view, motorsport was the stage where one could best demonstrate competitiveness and technical know-how. From 1968 onwards, racing drivers such as Derek Bell, James Hunt, Jacky Ickx, Niki Lauda, Hans Stuck, and Dieter Quester were all on ALPINA's payroll. Besides many national championships and the 24-hour race of Spa-Francorchamps, ALPINA and BMW won the European Touring CarChampionships in 1970, 1973, and 1977. During this time, Burkard also introduced catering to the paddock. His self-grilled steaks were legendary.

In 1978, during a notable presentation in South Tyrol (Austria), ALPINA unveiled three complete in-house developments: the BMW ALPINA B6 2.8, a BMW 3 Series with a 2.8-liter inline six-cylinder engine and 200 hp; the BMW ALPINA B7 Turbo based on the BMW 5 Series, then the world's fastest sedan; and the BMW ALPINA B7 Turbo Coupé, which established itself in the circle of the most powerful sports coupés with a power output of 300 hp. These impressive cars paved the way for the transition from a tuner to a manufacturer of exclusive automobiles.

Burkard Bovensiepen was deeply passionate about issues that concerned him, whether they were professional, political, or economic. He was not shy to go the extra mile. When in 1985 the debate over forest dieback and a speed limit on highways was raging in Germany, Burkard Bovensiepen took it as a challenge. Never seen before in production road cars, he introduced metal catalysts with low exhaust back pressure and highly efficient conversion rates. He underscored this endeavour with a large advertising campaign in the national daily newspapers titled "Traffic Policy 1985 – Dear Federal Government!" His message was, "We shouldn't try to tackle our environmental problems with laws and regulations. Let's use the latest technology to build the cleanest cars in the world here in Germany."

On his travels to the venues of the European Touring Car Championship in Italy, France, and Spain, he discovered a love for, as he put it, "proper" wine. When he realized that the wine he brought back from the many European trips far exceeded the capacity of his private wine cellar, he made his second passion a business and founded the ALPINA wine business, offering fine wines from famous regions.

Thanks to his penchant for quality, his perseverance and his excellent negotiating skills, he managed to gain exclusive import rights for Antinori's Supertuscan, the 1975 Tignanello, directly from the vineyard. However, there was one condition attached to the deal – he was asked to also buy the wine from another small winery called Sassicaia. Today, it's Italy's most famous wine and one of ALPINA’s flagships. The wine business now supplies approximately 1,000 gourmet restaurants and hotels all over Germany.

Burkard Bovensiepen was an ambitious and successful entrepreneur. Some milestones:
• 1964 Development of the Weber dual carburetor system for the BMW 1500.
• 1965 Establishment of ALPINA Burkard Bovensiepen KG.
• 1970, 1973, and 1977 victory in the European Touring Car Championships.
• 1971 Project management for the BMW lightweight coupe 3.0 CSL.
• 1979 Establishment of the ALPINA Wine Business.
• 1980 Expansion of the distribution network overseas – Japan.
• 1983 Registration as a car manufacturer with the Federal Motor Transport Authority.
• 1989 Introduction of the BMW ALPINA B10 Bi-Turbo, then the world's fastest sedan.
• 1993 ALPINA SWITCH-TRONIC, manual shifting of automatic transmissions using buttons on the steering wheel.
• 1995 Presentation of the BMW ALPINA B8 4.6 – the first BMW 3 Series with a V8 engine.
• 1995 SUPERKAT – ALPINA becomes the world's first manufacturer to introduce a heated catalytic converter as standard in the BMW ALPINA B12 5.7 E-KAT.
• 1999 Presentation of the BMW ALPINA D10 Bi-Turbo, ALPINA's first diesel engine.
• 2003 Entry into the American market with the BMW ALPINA ROADSTER V8 in collaboration with BMW.
• 2004 Introduction of the BMW ALPINA B7 with a supercharged engine using a mechanically driven radial compressor.
• 2007 More than 1,000 automobiles delivered worldwide for the first time.
• 2008 New construction of a research and development centre with five engine test beds and a rolling road for emissions testing.
• 2011 Victory in the German GT3 Championship, ADAC GT Masters.
• 2015 50th anniversary of ALPINA.
• 2019 40 years of ALPINA WINE.
• 2021 Over 2,000 automobiles delivered worldwide for the first time.

From 2002, his two sons, Andreas and Florian Bovensiepen, jointly managed the company with their father, who from then on focused his operational emphasis on the wine business.

Burkard Bovensiepen was a visionary, a perfectionist, and a man of clear ideas. When he had an idea in mind, he never tired of refining it, until it matched his vision and expectations to 100%.

We owe it to his life's work that BMW ALPINA automobiles and the ALPINA brand enjoy a first-class reputation worldwide. His legacy is evident in every car delivered to this day.

Buchloe, October 2023