When BMW introduced the two-door 1600, Alpina had another golden opportunity. The new car was smaller and lighter than the 1500/1800 cars, which made the Alpina very fast with a good power-to-weight ratio. With this model Alpina had a more complete product line, instead of just tuning-kits; now complete high-performance engines were available to the public.

These engines were fitted with special lighter pistons, carefully balanced crankshafts and polished connecting rods. BMW 2002 ti was top-of-the-line in its model-range. But, with its 165 bhp engine, the Alpina 2002 was considerable faster. On the Vallelunga race track it was one second faster than the Lamborghini Miura, and whole five seconds faster than Porsche 911S. Alpina now started establishing a very good reputation all over the world.

In 1973, the Alpina 2002tii became available as a complete and fully-developed car. This car had equal performance with the 2002 turbo, but the Alpina were considerably more comfortable and enjoyable to drive than the 2002 turbo. There was no turbo-lag - which was a big problem in using the power of the 2002 turbo - and its fuel consumption was much lower. Also it was cheaper, about 1500 DM less than the 2002 turbo. Alpina’s 2002 product range was a success, and even in the mid 70s, when many of the smaller tuning firms disappeared, Alpina continued to grow.

For Alpina, BMW’s introduction of the 3.0 CSL provided a superb advertisement for their products, because many of the components on the BMW 3.0 CSL were already Alpina-developed. But Alpina also offered a more powerful version of the CSL. Amongst others forged higher compression pistons, three Weber 45 DCOE carburetors, bigger inlet and outlet valves and a new camshaft were installed. Also, a special exhaust system was fitted. The engine now had 250 bhp and acceleration was very impressive. 0-100 km/h in 6,7 seconds, 0-160 km/h in 14,8 seconds and 0-200 km/h in 27,1 seconds with a top speed of 243 km/h. That is faster than the Aston Martin DBS V8 and the Ferrari 365 GT and they cost twice as much. The handling improved thanks to Bilstein springs and dampers. Bigger front discs and ventilated disks all around were installed. Inside the car, the seats are racing items from Scheel, three additional instruments and an Alpina leather steering-wheel.

Concurrent with the introduction of the CSL, Alpina gained access to BMW´s dealer network. Now Alpina wheels, spoilers and accessories were sold and installed by BMW dealers. However the actual introduction of the first fully-developed Alpina car was not made until 1978. That year, Bovensiepen demonstrated the new car to a handful of journalists- it was the 3-series based Alpina B6 2.8.