Alpina’s 204mph special editions

BMW performance specialists Alpina are celebrating their half century in style with 200mph+ ‘Edition 50’ Bi-Turbo beasts.

Alpina will hand-craft 50 saloons or estates, plus 50 coupes, of these special editions – their most powerful road cars ever.

The even hotter versions of the B5 and B6 Bi-Turbo feature a heavily tweaked version of BMW’s 4.4-litre V8, have 592bhp on tap and can reach 0-62mph in just 4.2sec with a top speed of 204mph.

Other ‘Edition 50’ features include Alpina blue brake callipers, limited-slip differential, hand-crafted sports seats, a full leather instrument panel and a steering wheel made from hand-stitched Lavaline leather.

The specials will be available in Alpina Green or Blue, or in a bespoke ‘Edition 50’ Sepia created by BMW Individual, while Alpina’s iconic decal sets can be specified along the sides and on the front spoiler.

Weight-saving measures include a lightweight titanium exhaust system which is 17kg lighter than a stainless steel system and each set of Alpina wheels is now 15.6kg lighter thanks to side cuts in each spoke and a new forging process.

Sadly the special editions will be available in very small numbers in the UK. They are priced from £86,850.

Alpina is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-performance, bespoke luxury cars. Production reached 1,700 in 2014 – a new record.