It's taken nearly 60 years, but Alpina is finally going to be an official part of BMW. The brand started out in 1965 producing go-fast parts for BMWs and later tuning models, eventually becoming a ...

Specifically, it resembles the relationship between BMW, a global giant that makes over two million vehicles a year, and Alpina, a family firm that produces around one-thousandth of that number.

Small but highly respected German tuner Alpina has long built its own versions of BMWs. Now the firm is being absorbed into the BMW corporate universe after 57 years of an arm's-length partnership.

Bovensiepen and BMW signed a partnership deal in 1965, a pact that's lasted more than five decades. Alpina was recognized as an independent automaker in Germany in 1983. Alpina employs nearly 300 ...