{"id":83855,"date":"2025-09-29T11:18:02","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T15:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=83855"},"modified":"2025-09-29T11:18:02","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T15:18:02","slug":"alpina-wagon-us-market-homologation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=83855","title":{"rendered":"ALPINA Considered Bringing a Wagon to the U.S. \u2014 Here\u2019s Why It Didn\u2019t Happen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For years, American enthusiasts have looked longingly at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmwblog.com\/2024\/11\/07\/alpina-b3-gt-touring-features-specs-limited-production\/\">ALPINA\u2019s sleek Touring models<\/a>, wondering why they\u2019ve never made it across the Atlantic. As it turns out, the idea wasn\u2019t completely off the table. In a recent interview, ALPINA boss Andreas Bovensiepen admitted that the brand considered bringing a wagon to the U.S. market. The hurdles, however, weren\u2019t about interest or even price. Sadly, they never made it that far \u2014 they came down to the staggering costs of homologation.<\/p>\n<h3>A U.S. ALPINA Wagon? Almost<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_455664\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-455664\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-alpina-b5-gt-05.jpg\"><noscript><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-455664\" title=\"2023 BMW ALPINA B5 GT Touring\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-alpina-b5-gt-05-830x554.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"830\" height=\"554\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-alpina-b5-gt-05-830x553.jpg 830w, https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-alpina-b5-gt-05-1535x1024.jpg 1535w, https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-alpina-b5-gt-05-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-alpina-b5-gt-05-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-alpina-b5-gt-05-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-alpina-b5-gt-05.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 830px) 100vw, 830px\"\/><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload size-medium wp-image-455664\" title=\"2023 BMW ALPINA B5 GT Touring\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20830%20554%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-alpina-b5-gt-05-830x554.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"830\" height=\"554\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-alpina-b5-gt-05-830x553.jpg 830w, https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-alpina-b5-gt-05-1535x1024.jpg 1535w, https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-alpina-b5-gt-05-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-alpina-b5-gt-05-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-alpina-b5-gt-05-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-alpina-b5-gt-05.jpg 1920w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 830px) 100vw, 830px\"\/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-455664\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">2023 BMW ALPINA B5 GT Touring<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The show\u2019s host pitches Bovensiepen on bringing some of the Touring models to the US. He cites the success of models like the RS6 Avant, which command prices sometimes even over MSRP. Bovensiepen nods his head and agrees with the sentiment. \u201cWe were investigating in recent years to bring over a wagon,\u201d he says. \u201cBut the difficulty is that\u2026if the base car is not in the market, like a wagon has no crash test in America, then it was too expensive.\u201d Bovensiepen says homologation made the product unviable. For a series production as limited as ALPINA\u2019s US Touring offerings would\u2019ve been, it simply couldn\u2019t work. Reportedly, even at $150,000 each \u2014 a number pitched by the host \u2014 Bovensiepen shakes his head and says \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>How Much Would It Have Cost?<\/h3>\n<p>However, he also notes that so far, the brand has never had to crash test a car for themselves. Since the brand\u2019s cars share so much with traditional BMW models \u2014 which have already been crash tested \u2014 and ALPINA doesn\u2019t sell variants in markets that BMW wouldn\u2019t otherwise already offer, Bovensiepen isn\u2019t intimately acquainted with exactly how costly it might be to homologate. \u201cFive cars or more,\u201d is Bovensiepen\u2019s estimate for crash requirements, with \u201cmaybe $3 to $5 million\u201d in costs. We want to emphasize that these are in no way concrete figures. They are, however, Bovensiepen\u2019s own words.<\/p>\n<h3>What About When BMW Sold Wagons Here?<\/h3>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/BMW-330i-Sports-Wagon-Smoked-Topaz-35-of-35.jpg\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-352550\" title=\"BMW-330i-Sports-Wagon-Smoked-Topaz (35 of 35)\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/BMW-330i-Sports-Wagon-Smoked-Topaz-35-of-35-830x467.jpg\" alt=\"The F31 BMW 330i Sports Wagon side view\" width=\"830\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/BMW-330i-Sports-Wagon-Smoked-Topaz-35-of-35-830x467.jpg 830w, https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/BMW-330i-Sports-Wagon-Smoked-Topaz-35-of-35-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/BMW-330i-Sports-Wagon-Smoked-Topaz-35-of-35-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/BMW-330i-Sports-Wagon-Smoked-Topaz-35-of-35.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 830px) 100vw, 830px\"\/><\/noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload alignnone size-medium wp-image-352550\" title=\"BMW-330i-Sports-Wagon-Smoked-Topaz (35 of 35)\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20830%20467%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/BMW-330i-Sports-Wagon-Smoked-Topaz-35-of-35-830x467.jpg\" alt=\"The F31 BMW 330i Sports Wagon side view\" width=\"830\" height=\"467\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/BMW-330i-Sports-Wagon-Smoked-Topaz-35-of-35-830x467.jpg 830w, https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/BMW-330i-Sports-Wagon-Smoked-Topaz-35-of-35-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/BMW-330i-Sports-Wagon-Smoked-Topaz-35-of-35-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.bmwblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/BMW-330i-Sports-Wagon-Smoked-Topaz-35-of-35.jpg 1920w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 830px) 100vw, 830px\"\/><\/a><\/h3>\n<p>All this begs the question: where was ALPINA when BMW <em>did <\/em>offer wagons in the U.S. market? For example: the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmwblog.com\/2019\/09\/19\/test-drive-bmw-330i-sports-wagon-goodbye-to-the-3-series-wagon\/\">F31 3 Series Touring<\/a> made it Stateside, as did the E61 Touring and E91 Touring models. For that matter, if homologation is truly all that stands in ALPINA\u2019s way from bringing models across the ocean, why restrict ALPINA models from us at all?<\/p>\n<p>We chalk it up to a lack of demand, but contend that demand would\u2019ve been there if the company sold the cars here from the start. Either way, it\u2019s interesting to know that ALPINA considered bringing a wagon Stateside. And, perhaps even more intriguing, the fact that the automaker considered it <em>after<\/em> wagons left our shores.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_AgpoAcMQvA\">MotoManTV Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For years, American enthusiasts have looked longingly at ALPINA\u2019s sleek Touring models, wondering why they\u2019ve never made it across the Atlantic. As it turns out, the idea wasn\u2019t completely off the table. In a recent interview, ALPINA boss Andreas Bovensiepen admitted that the brand considered bringing a wagon to the U.S. market. The hurdles, however, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":83856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/83856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}