If you’ve been anywhere near social media in the past year, you’ll know that BMW’s design has weathered a fair old storm. In the words of Adrian van Hooydonk, senior vice-president of group design at the Bavarian firm, “it can be brutal”.
But if you think that’s a hint that van Hooydonk and head of BMW design Domagoj Dukec are about to change their ways, think again. The kidney grille is here to stay.
The reasoning is simple: van Hooydonk and Dukec want BMW to stand out, so they’re happy to make it the distinguishing feature. They rationalise it by pointing out that it’s part of BMW’s past, so it will remain part of the future.
Listening to both men talk about all aspects of BMW’s design, it’s clear that the ‘separator’ reasoning is the philosophy behind what they’re doing. Dukec justifies it with the amount of noise they’ve created: “If you want to create something that stands out, it must be distinguished and it has to be different. If you want to reach some customers, you have to stand out. It’s not our goal to please everyone in the world, but you have to please your customers.”
This, then, is at the heart of what van Hooydonk and Dukec are trying to do – sell cars. “It all comes back to the customer,” is how Dukec puts it. It’s difficult to argue with the numbers as, Covid-aside, 2020 was a good year for BMW. The group’s sales recovered later in the year, with the 686,069 vehicles sold in the final quarter marking a 3.2% increase on the same period in 2019.
Not that it’s been easy or without risk. It’s the age-old compromise of acknowledging the past but also moving a company forward, a job that’s not easy with a back catalogue as long as BMW’s. As van Hooydonk is all too aware of. “There is some friction when your old product is so successful, and that’s what we’re seeing,” he says. “If your market success isn’t there, then you have to change. That’s a very stressful situation as a company. It’s better to have this kind of stress [the controversy], even though it would be even better to have market success and universal praise for the changes. But somehow that’s rarely the case.”
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Time will be the judge. Will we be looking back in 30 years’ time, thinking that BMW’s of this era were the benchmark in design or will be saying, “What were they thinking?
It's already pretty much decided. Most recent BMW's look like shit and will be viewed as looking like shit in the future too. The E38 7-series looked really good, after that it's been downhill and the current generation of beemers are the ugliest ever. The iX M60 and new 7-series will go down in history as the Fiat Multipla and Ssangyoung Rodius of the 2020:s.I have a BMW now, but have already ordered an Audi instead. Enough is enough.Look at Porsche: Beautifully evolved their classic 911-design since the 1960's. They are too big and heavy now, but damn, they still look good. BMW could have done the same. Porsche has been the most profitable car company for many years - they seem to be able to sell premium cars without making them look like shit.Look at the Polestar 1, a modern 7-series could be as beautiful as that.I'd bet anything that the Polestar 1 is till going to seem beautiful in 30 years and very few people are going to think that the current 7-series looks better than the e38.
Sticking a massive grille on the front isn't advanced or brave design, it's cosmetic ugliness.
The i1, on the other hand, is a great example of brave and original design, it still looks fresh and radically modern years after it was introduced.
As someone who had studied Design and also done a thesis on BMW's success (with info provided directly by BMW's former Head of R&D Burkhard Goeschel himself), I absolutely deplore some of the recent designs by BMW. Unfortunately there IS a difference between great design and just plain ugliness. For instance the new 4 series grille and overall design looks great but the 7 series and X7 grilles and design just look plain ugly - because the grille is simply not looking proportional to the rest of the car. BMW is sadly following industry trends by trying to update their ranges on a yearly basis when there sometimes doesn't really need to be any updates at all (ie. if it ain't broke don't fix it). Think of the older generation of cars, like the Merc E Class of the 80s where the design wasn't completely updated until like 7-8 years later. Car design today has unfortunately become a victim of constant updates and a little too much tinkering, which is sometimes not needed.
Instead of bland design, what BMW should be looking out for is better products from overseas and see if they are a match. Two upcoming premium brands from China, Nio and HiPhi now have amazingly styled, equipped, and powered electric cars which rival Tesla and even BMW itself - cars such as the Nio EC6 & ES8 and HiPhi X. Just check out the functions, design and performance of these cars. They have designs and products which easily surpass BMW in a number of areas.
They sold more last year, so, someone likes the design, even repeat buyers, the ones that just buy the same are happy with them, I'd heard the rumour that the reason the grill is so large on a 7 series was just for the Chinese market?