World’s Leading BMW Tuners
Tuning is not a new phenomena in the auto industry; however, it gained more traction during the 21th century when even major auto manufacturers opened their own exclusive tuners. For example companies like AMG, V Sport and F Sport are the exclusive tuners of Mercedes, Cadillac and Lexus cars, respectively. The industry also includes private players who have launched their tuning companies with individual investments and put their focus on a couple of brands. Tuning companies usually offer a variety of services namely, boosting the performance of the vehicles, refining components, personalizing the characteristics of a vehicle and exterior modifications. BMW has been considered as having a dynamic character, usually favored by the youth. This is enough to make the BMW a suitable market for tuners all around the world. In fact, numerous tuners have been working on BMW. But there are some of them topping the unending list of BMW tuners: BMW M, ALPINA, AC Schnitzer, G-Power, Manhart, Hartge all beside in Germany; 3d Design based in Japan, dÄHLer based in Switzerland and IND which is an American company. In the following we introduce the top five tuners of BMW that are all based in Germany:
BMW M
BMW M, also known as Power M, is the official tuner of BMW cars and is a subsidiary of BMW AG. The company could be named as the most experienced tuner of BMW vehicles. The company was established in 1972 in Germany city of Bavaria. The early years of its operations were mainly limited to racing cars tuning. After a while the team decided to enter the world of street cars. The decision resulted in the development of BMW M1, the first super sport car in the history of BMW, back in 1978. The car was produced by BMW M team. Thereafter, the operations of the company were limited to performance tuning services to owners of BMW cars.Currently BMW M offers M2 Coupe, M3 Sedan, M4 Coupe and Cabriolet, M5 Sedan, X5 M X6 M; and is expected to start offering M8 Gran Coupé, X3 M, X4 M in near future.
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ALPINA
Alpina's story began in 1962, this makes the company one of the oldest tuners of the BMW. Back then, Burkard Bovensiepen started upgrading BMW 1500. Two years later, he managed to obtain the operational license from the BMW. The company was recognized as a car producer by German Minisitry of Transport in 1983. Vehicles produced by Alpina are now being sold in BMW dealerships, backed by the same warranties offered on BMW cars. The company even uses the production lines of the BMW for manufacturing its cars. Alpina is specialized in making both gasoline and diesel engines. Alpina’s current lineup includes B3, B4, B5, B7, D3, D4, D5 and XD3.
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AC Schnitzer
AC Schnitzer is a well-known name when it comes to BMW tuning companies. Established in 1987, the company started supplying performance tuning services only to BMW cars. However, it has expanded its operation in the recent years. Currently it offers such services to other brands like Mini Miner, Jaguar, Land Rover and BMW motorcycles.What distinguishes the company from the competitors, is offering services to a wide range of BMW vehicles; even BMW 2 Series Active Tourer. The idea of customizing Active Tourer was not welcomed much at the beginning, as the vehicle is a family car. The company currently offers tuning packages for products for the 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 , X, M and Z series.
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G-Power
G-Power is the other leading tuner of BMW cars. It started supplying specialized packages for BMW; however, in a strange move is currently offering customizing services for the long-run competitor of BMW, AMG. No matter how strange the move looks, it must be noted that G-Power packages for BMW cars still outperform those made for AMG. G-Power’s current packages are consist of products for the 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 ,X, M and Z series.