Tänast päeva kirjeldab anonüümseks jäänud allikas Alpinast järgnevalt:
"PRODUCTION PROCESS
The production process really begins with the development process. We develop prototype parts ourselves, or with our suppliers, during the engineering and testing process. If both the chassis and the engine are new to us, the total time from project start, to CAD/CAM prep, to testing (cold, hot, high altitude, high-speed, low-speed, abuse, endurance, and top speed at MICHELIN), to development of series parts, is about four years. Software now takes up more than half our total development time, where it used to be but a small percentage.
Once we've engineered the parts, they come from different sources to be provided to the production facility. The parts come either from BMW (but sometimes not from the same engine, see 535d injectors on D3 mono-turbo), from a supplier common to BMW and ALPINA (Honeywell-Garrett construct bespoke "race" turbos used on the D3 Bi-Turbo, which are not found in any BMW), from a supplier outside the common BMW food chain (Mahle pistons, or carbon-fibre bonnets from "3C"), or parts ALPINA make and turn themselves (all software, for example, or compressor bell housings, struts, supports, et cetera).
E60-E63 engines, including the B6GT3 race engines, are still built up in their entirety here in Buchloe.
With the advent of the N47D20, then the N54B30, and now the N62B44, we moved engine production from our facility to BMW's bespoke engine production lines. This was done mostly for reasons of capacity constraints first and costings second: the completed engines are not better or worse in their quality, in our estimation. The engines then travel to the BMW automobile factory, where they meet up with all of the other parts that ALPINA have supplied the factory, either directly or indirectly: wheels/tyres (always mounted and balanced here in Buchloe), suspension bits, dash, gaugesets, steering wheels, transmissions, drivetrains, propshafts, half-shafts, rear diffs, and a host of other smaller parts. These are all put together on the factory line, with the parts that we buy from BMW, and where we would be too small to create these parts for ourselves: the chassis painted, all glass, the airbags, entertainment systems, and major parts of the wiring loom. Interestingly, wiring looms aren't laid together by humans, but by machine. They're so complex that a human just couldn't manage anymore.
At the end of the production line, a BMW ALPINA is then flashed with its dedicated software, just as any BMW would be. It's then driven off the line for delivery to ALPINA.
What isn't done at the BMW factory is anything that could cause "line speed loss". Slowing down a production line for any reason is expensive: that's why BMW ALPINAs are often built in small groups, sometimes with other difficult-to-build cars, such as armoured or BMW Individual cars. Aerodynamics, the ALPINA VIN, and selected under-bonnet ducting & hosing, are examples of things done in Buchloe.
All BMW ALPINAs have to come back to Buchloe, as per the ISO regulations for auto manufacturers, for Buchloe is the only site that has the expertise (and the ISO legal release) to road-test and sign off for the legal liability for any BMW ALPINA's operation on a public thoroughfare. This used to be the case with "M" cars as well, that they all had to go to Garching for "technical release". I do not know if that is still the case. BMW AG simply cannot technically release a BMW ALPINA.
DOT/NHTSA and CARB/EPA HOMOLOGATION/APPROVAL, E65 B7
The US is the only market in the world where there are two completely separate homologation processes for the same car: one for the chassis as it relates to road safety, and one for emissions. In the US, BMW is the chassis manufacturer of a BMW ALPINA, and ALPINA is the manufacturer of the powertrain. That makes the BMW versus ALPINA VIN discussion irrelevant, but only in the NAFTA region."
http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/alpina ... ost1618518
