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The Bovensiepen 05 GT is a lesson in how to make a classic Alpina

It’s an M5 Touring created by Alpina’s founders
Front quarter view of the Bovensiepen 05 GT
PHOTO: Bovensiepen
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This is the Bovensiepen 05 GT. It is a big, heavy, five-door hybrid V8 wagon with an astronomical amount of power and a design aesthetic crafted by a man who’s done an astronomically powerful British hypercar.

So IYKYK. For those still catching up, this is the work of the family who started Alpina. Not to go all Inception, but it’s basically been modified by the world’s coolest car company’s original founders. Already, this has moved several degrees cooler (and to the left of the board, to those who really know).

Rear quarter view of the Bovensiepen 05 GT

Front view of the Bovensiepen 05 GT

Clearly, it’s a modified BMW M5 Touring, though Bovensiepen is way too subtle to actually name-check Munich’s hybrid leviathan. Instead, it talks about enlisting one Mr. Frank Stephenson for the car’s ‘striking’ design.

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And it’s striking because...it looks like an Alpina. A ‘classic’ Alpina, not BMW’s ultra-lux rebirth. Bovensiepen talks about Frank’s ‘powerful’ front grille and bumper treatment that then wraps around the entire lower section of the car. There’s a quad-exhaust setup and a cool bootlip spoiler.

Rear view of the Bovensiepen 05 GT

Alloy wheel of the Bovensiepen 05 GT

Big wheels, too—21-inch lightweight forged items “that radiate commitment to perfection through their symmetrical design.” How else would you know? They’re wrapped in bespoke Pirellis, while that exhaust we mentioned is a lightweight Akrapovic setup that gives off an “emotionally engaging, bass-heavy sound” and is 7.8kg lighter than standard. That you probably would know.

Not least because it’s powerful. Bovensiepen quotes 789hp and 1,098Nm—increases over the standard 4.4-liter V8 M5 Touring’s 727hp and 998Nm. The 0-100kph time of less than 3.6sec is as per BMW, though a 305kph top speed is miles more than standard, and what you’d officially call ‘watch this!’ fast. Though, this being Old Alpina, they’d prefer you didn’t watch this.

Side view of the Bovensiepen 05 GT

Cockpit of the Bovensiepen 05 GT

Weight? Exactly the same, a herculean 2,555kg. And that’s including the company’s lux interior, which includes much leather and the opportunity to basically bespoke the heck out of it. “A trunk lining fully upholstered in alcantara? A personalized embossed stamp for the headrests? Elaborate custom embroidery?” Bovensiepen asks, somewhat rhetorically.

The result is “a treat for all the senses,” according to Andreas Bovensiepen. It was his father Burkard who started Alpina all those years ago. According to Stephenson, the 05 GT “shows how careful, intelligent exterior design can transform the character of a car without losing the integrity of what made it appealing in the first place.

Center console badge of the Bovensiepen 05 GT

“It is subtle, yes, but also confident.”

Confident price, too: each one will start from just under €200,000 (P13.9 million before taxes) in Germany. Old Alpinas were always an IYKYK kind of car—because this Bovensiepen is even more niche, does that make it cooler still? Let us know below.

More photos of the Bovensiepen 05 GT:

Front detail of the Bovensiepen 05 GT

Rear detail of the Bovensiepen 05 GT

Sill plate of the Bovensiepen 05 GT

Front seats of the Bovensiepen 05 GT

Headrest detail of the Bovensiepen 05 GT

Backseat of the Bovensiepen 05 GT

Rear quarter image of the Bovensiepen 05 GT

Rear quarter top view of the Bovensiepen 05 GT

Front quarter top view of the Bovensiepen 05 GT

NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.

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PHOTO: Bovensiepen
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