BMW appears to be righting the ship, tightening up its design language, and defining the roles of each part of its business. That's a big deal in 2026, where automakers are facing all kinds of problems that threaten to wipe out their ever-important profit margins. For BMW, one of the newest parts of the business is the Alpina brand.While anyone with a passing interest in BMW cars understands what an M badge means, the Alpina brand is less obvious. Former Polestar designer Maximilian Missoni is now in charge of Alpina, and in a recent interview he expressed disappointment that there are people wondering if M and Alpina can co-exist. And it looks like Missoni's job is to make sure the delineation is clear, and the brands don't clash.BMW"I’m excited about this. It hurts a little to see people that still wonder whether there’s even room for these two [brands] alongside each other. We have already defined these nicely. There is a real space for both."– Maximilian Missoni, speaking to Car magazineThe Alpina ProblemBringATrailer Some of you will be rolling your eyes, as Missoni is right – the two brands have already been defined nicely. Not long ago, BMW CEO Oliver Zipse detailed how Alpina will be defined moving forward now that BMW was in full control of the brand – somewhere above high-end BMWs but without moving into Rolls-Royce territory. But, in terms of marketing, BMW M has been around for decades and anyone with a passing interest in performance road cars knows what that M badge means. It was born out of BMW Motorsport.Alpina, however, is not so cut and dried. The company started in 1965 and became famed in Europe for tuning BMW cars, to the point it was officially recognized as an automaker by Germany. Alpina's modern take on BMW models has been to increase the power, like M, but also add luxury to create something more akin to grand touring than corner carving.BMW bought the rights to Alpina as a brand in 2022, but then had to wait for its existing five-year ‘cooperation agreement’ to expire. Here in 2026, Alpina is now an official BMW brand. And while things seem straightforward, there's still the aspect of performance: Alpina and M both make fast BMWs faster. Can BMW actually execute this brand positioning without cannibalizing sales from either entity?The Branding ProblemBMW At this point, if people are struggling to differentiate between BMW M and Alpina, that's a marketing issue. And one BMW appears to want to solve by having Missoni in charge of BMW models from the 5 Series and up, including Alpina. But, Alpina will be its own standalone brand, bridging the gap between the high-end 7 and 8 Series models and the entry into Rolls-Royce models, which also lives under the BMW umbrella.Meanwhile, the M brand will continue in its mold of generating high-performance versions of BMW models, but now under Oliver Heilmer, the former design boss for BMW's other brand, Mini. As well as M, he will now be responsible for compact class BMW models (including the 3 Series and X3), and the Neue Klasse range.For now, it appears BMW has it all figured out. Alpina will continue its reputation for opulence and comfort with speed and power, while M will remain the dedicated performance group, both for power and handling. In this vein, Alpina could become a luxurious rival to Maybach, the ultra-posh extension of Mercedes. In any case, we'll finally get a taste of this plan on May 16, when BMW is set to reveal its Vision BMW Alpina concept. A teaser shows the silhouette of what looks like a gran coupe body style, likely a 2+2 seater. You can bet we'll be watching it all unfold.
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