The BMW 8-Series Gran Coupe only debuted several days ago, but Alpina CEO Andreas Bovensiepen has already promised us to use it as the donor vehicle for the company’s next release, which will allegedly come as a replacement for the old Alpina B6 GC.
Predictably enough, the new Alpina B8 Gran Coupe will come powered by the V8 4.4 M TwinPower Turbo engine of the latest M8 coupe and convertible. The mill comes rated at 600 horsepower (447 kilowatts) and 750 Newton-meters (553 pound-feet) of torque in its standard edition. In the Competition version, it produces 625 hp (466 kW) with the same maximum torque. Alpina will likely leave the power rating in the near-standard area, but it might want to tune the drivetrain for a bit of extra torque.
The last time Alpina tackled the BMW 8 Series was in 1992 through 1996. Back then, the German performance car manufacturer has produced 57 units of its Alpina B12 5.7 coupes. Each came powered by a 5.7 V12 mill mated to a six-speed manual transmission and rated at 416 PS (310 kilowatts). The model ran the 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) sprint in 5.8 seconds.
Photos: BMW