Every year, there's always a car that captures the heart of aftermarket companies and this year it's the BMW 4 Series->ke3834. Bavaria's new sports coupe has become the flavor of the year for tuning firms. The 4 Series love has become so rampant that even Alpha N Performance is getting in on the fun with its work on the 4 Series' big brother, the M4->ke4183.

For now, Alpha N Performance has only produced a basic engine upgrade for the M4. The tuner still has more tricks up its sleeve in the future, including aerodynamic components and two more stages of performance upgrades. But right now, the Stage 1 engine kit is all it has for the M4.

You can draw your own conclusions on the tuner's work on the M4. In some way, it does lack the wow factor we normally attribute to tuning programs, but for what it was able to accomplish -- developing a system for the M4 is no small feat -- Alpha N Performance is on the right track toward building a tuning kit that we can all get behind. Besides, it's not totally fair to judge a tuner on a program that still has plenty of room to evolve in the future.

Hopefully, we see the final product, complete with the Stage 2 and 3 performance upgrades, sooner rather than later. We've got high hopes on your kit, Alpha N Performance. Don't leave us hanging.

Click past the jump to read more about the 2014 BMW M4 By Alpha-N Performance.

2014 BMW M4 Stage 1 by Alpha-N Performance

Specifications
  • Make: Array
  • Model: 2014 BMW M4 Stage 1 by Alpha-N Performance
  • Engine/Motor: inline-6
  • Horsepower: 520
  • Torque: 501
  • [do not use] Vehicle Model: Array

BMW M4 By Alpha-N Performance in detail

Alpha N Performance isn't ashamed about the fact that it's yet to build a complete aftermarket kit for the BMW M4. What it does have is a Stage 1 kit that was designed and developed to tap into the enormous potential of the M4's 3.0-liter, twin-turbo engine. You might think that an engine that produces 425 horsepower and 406 pound-feet of torque is already impressive, but Alpha N operates in an entirely different level of demand. That's why it used its own EVOX Systems to boost the performance of the M4 to 520 horsepower and 501 pound-feet of torque. Do the math and that represents a 20-percent increase in horsepower compared to the standard M4.

And don't worry about this kit doing serious damage to your precious M4, as Alpha-N has addressed this in two ways. First of all, the tuner installed a shut-off switch that keeps the car in its stock tune until the powerful six-pot reaches operating temperature. Secondly, the kit will only allow 20 seconds of full-throttle driving before disabling itself and reverting the M4 back to its stock level of tune. Sure, that could be slightly embarrassing in the middle of a race, but it's all about preventing that gem of an engine from self-destructing.

Here's the best part: Alpha N's upgrade on the M4 is far from finished. Stage 2 and 3 upgrades are still being developed, as well as new carbon-fiber components that should improve the M4's driving dynamics once they're all installed.

Stay tuned for any and all updates, which we believe will arrive soon.

BMW M4