Legendary BMW tuner AC Schnitzer has announced that it will shut up shop at the end of 2026 after almost 40 years in business. Citing a range of factors like lengthy approval in its German home market, US tariffs and global economic downturn, AC Schnitzer’s parent company Kohl Group has decided to close the company down unless a new buyer can be found.

In a media statement, the brand said steadily rising costs in the development and manufacture of parts are creating “competitive disadvantages” and that the “extremely long approval process for parts in the German system has caused AC Schnitzer to fall further and further behind its non-German competitors”.

“Whether it’s tariffs in the key U.S. market, rising global raw material prices, highly volatile exchange rates in international currencies, or the demise of suppliers on the supplier side: every development has left its mark on the balance sheet. The same goes for the general reluctance to spend, which, amid a global economic downturn that has now lasted four years, has also caused the domestic market in Germany to collapse” the company said.

9

AC Schnitzer was founded in 1987 in Aachen, Germany, by Willi Kohl and Herbert Schnitzer. It began by tuning various BMW products and moved into motorcycle tuning, as well as making parts like wheels, suspension components and bodykits. After that, it entered various rallies and touring car races, and branched out slightly by eventually offering tuning kits for Mini and Jaguar Land Rover products, as well as the BMW Z4-based Toyota GR Supra.

Product highlights for the company include the V8 Roadster (1997), which was essentially a V8-powered BMW Z3, the M6 Tension (2005) that was a tuned E63 BMW M6 and its tuned 2018 F90 BMW M5, which became the fastest sedan at the Nurburgring at the time with a lap time of 7:29.50.

Unless a new buyer is found, AC Schnitzer will shut down by the end of 2026, though it will still honour warranties and offer support for products beyond that.