BMW racing team-turned-tuner AC Schnitzer will regrettably shut down at the end of 2026, according to a statement from its parent company, the Kohl Group, which belongs to the same family that started ACS way back in 1987. Today, the brand produces parts for BMWs and motorcycles, but all of its inventory is to be sold off by the end of the year, and Kohl is seeking a buyer for the name.
In other words, AC Schnitzer as we know it will be no more. In the statement, the company mentions various circumstances that led to this point—some indisputable, others more…editorial. “Tariffs in the key U.S. market, rising global raw material prices, highly volatile exchange rates in international currencies, [and] the demise of suppliers on the supplier side” are all cited and certainly valid factors. An “extremely long approval process” for automotive parts in Germany also hasn’t helped.
But Kohl’s statement also ventures into cultural shifts, saying that “buyers of vehicle enhancements through aftermarket parts are often portrayed in the media as eccentrics or posers,” and that, like other tuners, it failed to “inspire young customers” as their fathers did. Look, you’ll never see us making fun of aftermarket customers, unless they’re enlisting the services of Mansory. But that’s the only exception.
Whatever the reasons, this is sad news. AC Schnitzer got its start 39 years ago following the merger of the Kohl Group and Team Schnitzer, which had made a name for itself campaigning BMWs in various motorsport categories. It was a mainstay during those golden years of the DTM, when E30 M3s faced off against Mercedes 190Es and Alfa 155s. And when the tuning craze of the late ’90s and early 2000s arrived, it certainly carved out a unique presence.
We’ve watched so many of ACS’s counterparts fold over the years, but that doesn’t make this story any easier to take in. Here’s hoping that if the brand does live on in some form, it does so in a way that honors its past.
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