Less than a year after its introduction in the US last spring, Alpina’s B6 Gran Coupe has received a facelift, which was to be expected since it’s based on the recently updated  2016 BMW 6-Series Gran Coupe.

The exterior revisions are minimal and limited to the reworked double kidney grilles, the new bespoke Alpina hood with “character chines”, and the reshaped, full-LED Adaptive Headlights with High Beam Assistant.

Other than that, the B6 Gran Coupe remains the same on the cosmetic front with Alpina’s dedicated aero kit and 20-inch staggered alloy wheels in 255/35 tires front and 295/30 rear on the outside, and various Alpina goods inside such as the instruments, trim and leather upholstery.

We left the biggest and most important change for last, as the 2016 B6 Gran Coupe that’s offered exclusively with BMW‘s xDrive all-wheel drive system gets a revised 4.4-liter bi-turbo’d V8 engine with a significant bump in output, from 540hp and 540 lb-ft (731Nm) of torque to 600hp at 6,000 rpm and 590 lb-ft (799Nm) at 3,500 rpm respectively.

That not only makes it more powerful than the M6 Gran Coupe (560hp and 560 lb-ft) but also faster in the 0-60mph (96 km/h) –helped of course by the all-wheel drive system- at 3.6 seconds vs. 4.1 seconds or 4.0 seconds for the M6 GC with the Competition Package. Top speed for the US-spec B6 Gran Coupe is limited to 200mph (322km/h).

BMW said the new Alpina B6 xDrive Gran Coupe will be available to order in March 2015 at an as of yet undisclosed price (the 2015MY starts at $117,300, if you’re wondering), with US deliveries slated to start in June.

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