Legendary BMW and MINI specialist modified house, AC Schnitzer, has officially announced that it will stop all of its tuning operations by the end of 2026. This surprising decision ends the company's career, which has been an icon of German automotive performance for almost four decades.
The parent company, KOHL Group, stated that this bitter decision was taken because the conventional vehicle modification business model is no longer financially profitable. Some of the main factors that caused it were the soaring development costs, global supply chain uncertainties, and regulatory obstacles in Germany that were considered too slow.
AC Schnitzer Managing Director, Rainer Vogel, revealed that the bureaucratic regulatory approval process makes it difficult for companies to compete in the global market.
"If we can only bring aftermarket parts to the market eight or nine months after competitors, that explains everything," Vogel said, quoted by Carscoops, Wednesday, April 1.
In addition to bureaucratic problems, the shift of the industry towards electric vehicles (EV) has also weakened market demand. Traditional modification culture which focuses on increasing engine power, exhaust sound, and mechanical drama is considered to be losing its appeal for the younger generation in the era of electrification. Although AC Schnitzer had tried to modify electric models such as the BMW i5, consumer enthusiasm was considered not as big as in the era of internal combustion engines (ICE).
AC Schnitzer, founded by Willi Kohl and Herbert Schnitzer in 1987, has a long history in the racing world, including a triumph with the BMW E30 M3 in the DTM. Its closeness to BMW is so close that its products have been sold through BMW's official dealer network.
Although operations will be stopped, AC Schnitzer ensures that it will continue to sell existing product stock until the end of 2026 and will continue to honor warranty claims after that period.
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