Alpina Logo

Alpina Logo PNG

The Alpina logo is a prototype of the wheel of fortune. The badge indicates the flawless operation of the engine and the precise fit of the parts to achieve perfection in riding. The sign symbolizes the combination of components for long and high-speed races.

Meaning and History

According to official figures, Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen GmbH & Co. KG was founded in 1965. However, the prerequisites for its appearance arose much earlier – back in 1962, when Burkard Bovensiepen from the industrial dynasty invented the Weber double carburetor. BMW executives appreciated the new part and immediately certified its quality.

It is worth noting that Burkard did not initially plan to associate his life with spare parts. At first, he was engaged in typewriters’ manufacture and then tried to switch to textile fibers’ processing, but all were unsuccessful. As a result, the entrepreneur devoted most of his time to tuning cars, for which he allocated an outbuilding at a factory for the production of typewriters.

What is Alpina?

Alpina began as a manufacturer of typewriters, but in 1965 turned into a tuning business: Burkard Bovensiepen registered an enterprise under the name Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen GmbH & Co. KG and took up the modernization of BMW cars. Since 1983, improved vehicles have been produced exclusively under the Alpina brand, although BMW services them under warranty.

Burkard commissioned a logo specifically for the tuning business that would shed light on what his company does. The designers created a round silver badge with a wide black ring around the edge. The ring is surrounded by two light stripes and bears the inscription “ALPINA” in the upper half. The brand name is visible thanks to the bold capital letters.

The emblem inside is similar to the classic coat of arms; although of the heraldic elements, there is only a shield. It has an irregular shape, including a sharp corner at the bottom and two ridges at the edges. The shield is vertically divided into two equal segments: red (left) and dark blue (right) – a thin black stripe runs between them, which merges with the outline of the same color. The red half shows the Weber twin carburetor, the first Alpina development for BMW. And on the right is the crankshaft, another detail that allows the increased power of BMW engines. By the way, the logo appeared in 1967, two years after the founding of the tuning company.

Font and Colors

The heraldic shape of the badge underlines Alpina’s commitment to tradition. Simultaneously, modern design solutions combined with a three-dimensional effect embody the desire for future technologies. But the parts shown on the billboard remind us: Alpina is not an independent car manufacturer. The company is committed to improving BMW cars’ performance and marketing them under its brand, replacing the traditional BMW symbol with its emblem.

The inscription is visible thanks to the capital letters. Still, the quality of its readability is reduced due to the disproportion: the characters are stretched horizontally and lined up in the form of an arch. The situation is improved by the fact that the designers used a sans-serif font. By the way, the width of the lines in the word approximately coincides with the silvery rings’ thickness bordering the frame on the emblem.

In some cases, silver can be replaced with white for easier printing. The palette also includes other colors: classic black (at the top – with a black-to-gray gradient), red and blue. The last two are presented in rather dark shades and divide the shield into equal parts. From the fact that these colors are used in the heraldic structure, they may have a hidden meaning associated with cars’ manufacture.

Alpina color codes