Alpina Sees A Future For Performance Diesels

Alpina believes there is still a bright future for performance diesel vehicles, despite fading demand for diesels.

Speaking with Wheels Australia, Alpina chief Andreas Bovensiepen said improvements made to ensure diesels are clean tells him that they will continue to play a key role in Alpina’s range moving forward.

“Finally now with build technique and the high level of technology that BMW [has] with catalytic converters and AdBlue, a lot of tests have proven that diesel is really clean now concerning NOx – it’s very very low.

“In Europe we now get RDE – which is Real Driving Emissions, where we have to prove, on the roads, that your car in every occasion is clean – not only on a test dyno.

“This means now that diesel is getting really clean – and it has to be, otherwise you cannot offer this kind of car. So I think diesel will have a good future, especially in cars with two-litres or more capacity,” Bovensiepen said.

Two of Alpina’s most important new models are sold exclusively with diesel powertrains; the XD3 and XD4. The two both feature a quad-turbo 3.0-liter diesel six-cylinder with 383 hp and a brutal 663 lb-ft of torque. Despite Alpina’s relative inexperience with SUVs, the company believes these two models will significantly increase its sales moving forward.

Alpina has a selection of other diesel models in its range, namely the 5-Series based D5 S as well as the 3-Series and 4-Series based D3 and D4. Not only do these sedans offer supreme comfort and luxury, they all provide performance beyond any diesel models straight from BMW.