The Bovensiepen Zagato's reveal at Fuori Concorso on Lake Como in May 2025 set an immediate tone. The bubble-roof gran tourer felt at once familiar yet more exotic, guaranteeing a known character but elevating it to a more rarified atmosphere. Life after Alpina, it appeared, was to be as an automotive atelier rather than a TUV-approved manufakteur.

But the typically low-key announcement of a second model, barely thirteen months later, suggests otherwise. The Zagato, it turns out, is the halo. The 05 GT is the family getting back to work.

Bovensiepen hasn't directly referenced the 05 GT’s origins, despite openly admitting the Zagato is based upon the G83 M4 Convertible. But the released statistics don’t lie: the GT’s powertrain is a V8 hybrid, a configuration BMW only uses in the M5. The kerb weight is also a suspiciously chunky 2,555kg, a mere 5kg more than the G99, which is no doubt down to the more luxurious materials used for the interior.

What Bovensiepen has done with those foundations is, as ever, what matters. Revised suspension includes Eibach springs, modified support bearings, and a bespoke strut tower brace. There’s even custom Pirelli rubber, developed exclusively for the 05 GT and marked BOV on the sidewall, designed to balance handling precision with long-distance composure – a significant investment for a fledgling manufacturer. 

Combined total output from the PHEV system is 789bhp and 811lb ft of torque. The additional 72bhp is liberated by a reworked intake, revised cooling, and what Bovensiepen describes as ‘comprehensively rewritten engine software’, although that doesn’t include the removal of the M5’s 190mph limiter. Validation has occurred at both Papenburg and Nardò, with 0-62mph quoted as a typically conservative ‘under 3.6 seconds’.

The body is the work of Frank Stephenson, the former BMW designer responsible for the original X5 and the relaunch of Mini at the turn of the millennium. The contrast to the M5 is immediate, with the oversized bumpers and rear diffuser of the M car pared back and refined to something more befitting of a product of Buchloe – regardless of the masthead.

Stephenson’s brief included a new take on the signature Alpina pinstripes, resulting in a wraparound line tracing the entire lower perimeter of the car, connecting front bumper, sills and rear valance. Linking the car to the Zagato is a subtle titanium Akrapovič exhaust sporting four oval tailpipes, which saves 7.8kg over a conventional system, and turbine-spoke, 21-inch alloys finished in satin aluminium.

The inside is reassuringly familiar, with acres of Lavalina leather lining the interior, which is fully customisable far beyond the scope of BMW’s Individual programme. Bovensiepen has paid specific attention to the 05 GT’s touchpoints, milling special aluminium paddle shifters. Echoing tradition, each car will carry a numbered dashboard plaque.

Naturally, all this attention to detail does not come cheap, with the Bovensiepen 05 GT carrying a significant premium over the M5. Pricing opens at €198,900 ex factory – essentially £172,000 at the time of publication exchange rate. First deliveries are scheduled for Q4 2026.