Article Summary
- The Vision BMW ALPINA coupe features a retro-modern take of the iconic shark nose.
- Designers took inspiration from the E24 6 Series, which was shown alongside the one-off design study.
- Bringing back the shark nose would not pose a challenge in terms of meeting pedestrian safety regulations.
The iconic shark nose harks from an era when car designers had substantially more freedom. Nowadays, their talents are constrained by pedestrian safety and crash legislation, which require them to make concessions to meet regulations. Nevertheless, BMW is attempting to infuse some retro mojo into its special cars by bringing back this distinctive look, arguably best executed on the original 6 Series (E24) in the 1970s.
The 2024 Skytop, 2025 Speedtop, and the recently unveiled BMW ALPINA-badged Vision concept all feature a modern interpretation of the shark nose. All three cars are based on the 8 Series, and the first two are actually going into limited production. As for the third, it’s bound to remain a one-off design study meant to show the way forward for ALPINA.
While you might think integrating a shark nose into a modern car would pose a safety challenge, BMW ALPINA ran into a different issue. The challenge stems from integrating so many radar and sensor systems into the pointy nose without ruining the front design. Maximilian Missoni, BMW’s Head of Design for Upper Mid-Size, Luxury Class, and ALPINA, explains the hurdles designers are faced with:
“The shark nose is fine [from a safety regulation perspective]. As it turns out, the biggest challenge is all the driver-assist sensor systems, all the cameras, radars, and laser scanners. Integrating all these components is, I would say, from an exterior point of view, the biggest challenge of our days.”
Shark Nose Is Back In Production
With the coupe, BMW ALPINA could get away with it since the car doesn’t have to meet the regulations. However, the Skytop and Speedtop have both been turned into production models, limited to 50 and 70 units respectively. Even with all the necessary sensors added, the targa-topped vehicle hasn’t lost any of its beauty. We expect the same for its shooting brake sibling, which was recently spotted during testing at the Nürburgring.
BMW ALPINA isn’t committing to a coupe yet, but logic tells us we’ll be seeing more of that shark nose in the future. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense to put it on a concept car only for it to never be seen again. The Vision’s kidneys were closed off, but any production model would need an open grille for air to flow and cool the engine. In the case of the coupe, there was a V8 under the hood, though inline-sixes are likely coming as well.
BMW ALPINA could one day sell a car with a closed grille, considering EVs have already been confirmed. However, the first order of business is to launch an ALPINA-ified 7 Series with a V8 in 2027. After that, we expect the second-generation X7 will also receive the upscale treatment with an eight-cylinder engine.
