ALPINA · 9 October 2026
The Number on the Plaque
A small metal plaque inside an ALPINA says more than many a badge. You only need to know how to read it.
In an ALPINA the most important detail is easy to miss. It is not the spoiler or the stripes along the sides, but a small metal plaque inside the car.
What the plaque says
The plaque in our B12 5.0 E32 says everything that matters: “ALPINA B. Bovensiepen GmbH + Co.”, the model name and the number 234. The number tells you which example of the model this is. ALPINA counted its cars one by one, and the plaque closed the work on each of them like a signature.
Why the number matters
The number gains meaning in context. Number 21 on our B3 3.3 Allrad sounds modest until you learn that only 30 of these saloons were built. The number also lets you check whether a car’s history matches its documents.
The end of the Buchloe era
Since 2026 ALPINA has belonged to BMW, and no more cars will come from Buchloe. Next time you sit in one of them, look out for this small detail.
