For several years now, fans and haters alike have banded together to pour hate on BMW’s design department, and that hate has not been unfounded. Or has it? In my opinion, a puritanical love for BMW should have nothing to do with how it looks, only how it behaves.
Are people only hating on BMW design because there’s little else with which to find fault? Whatever the reason, I’d say that embracing cosmetic change is part of BMW’s cyclical character. Look at the original Batmobile or the first M3. Both have somewhat awkward appendages because they each care more about performance than aesthetic purity. As a result, they have charm and are fairly good-looking, but they’re still not beautiful (the original, untouched E9, for the record, is).
“Beautiful” is certainly not the first word that springs to mind when describing the current BMW range (besides maybe the Z4 Roadster), but I can look past the abundance of strangely-shaped grilles in BMW’s product offering because a manual transmission, a noxious straight-six or V8 engine, rear-wheel drive, and even a station wagon body are available (albeit not universally).
For me, a Bimmer’s greatness is not contingent on its appearance.
Styling Is Just One Ingredient, And It’s Always Changing
Yes, several BMWs have been stupendously gorgeous. The vastly overengineered BMW 507, even in the basic form of a $5 Hot Wheels die-cast model, is achingly beautiful. I genuinely feel a pang of distress every time I contemplate that a real-life example’s value puts its ownership forever beyond my reach. I feel just as strongly about the Mille Miglia-winning BMW 328, and neither car looks much like the other.
While we’re on the subject, let’s address the beaver teeth in the room.
One of these two classics has a pair of wide horizontally-oriented grilles and muscular bodywork, while the other has swoopy arches on a narrow body, matched with a pair of vertical, elongated kidneys that stretch from the hood badge to the bottom of the front fascia. Each design is BMW through and through, so to imply that designers should only try a certain take on the kidney grille and stick with that forever is ridiculous. Let them cook. Styling is just the appetizer, anyway.
The reason I personally admire the brand has absolutely nothing to do with a particular approach to aesthetics. In presenting the SUV take on Neue Klasse design, BMW CEO Oliver Zipse reiterated that BMW is a technology company, and that has been true of the Bavarian automaker for longer than most realize.
We don’t divide our products into “old” and “new”, but always offer our customers the latest technology – regardless of the vehicle’s powertrain.
As a millennial (I’m not proud of it either, but I didn’t have much say in the matter), I can only go as far back as the late Nineties if I want to talk about cars that I remember clearly. Only one of my dad’s friends had a truly cool car, but it was the coolest of them all: a Dakar Yellow E36 M3. Coming from my old man’s aging Alpine White E30, this was more powerful, more lavish, and more heavily equipped. Yet what mattered in both cars was the air of superiority that came with the famous roundel, and that has never been defined by cosmetics, or any single trait. No M3 owner waxed lyrical about the curvaceous body as much as they sang the praises of the S50 and the chassis it was attached to (flawed as each was), and none pondered those trendsetting wing mirrors as much as they subconsciously appreciated fine leather upholstery and ice-cold air conditioning. All these elements play a part, but looks are low on the list.
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Roasted For Flame Surfacing…But Still The Hottest Cars On The Block
The replacement for the E36 was the best M3 ever, and that applies to its appearance, too. Even so, what most E46 buyers discussed was the raucous, record-breaking engine, the outstanding chassis balance, or the irritating but innovative SMG transmission. While everyone appreciated the handsomeness of the S54-powered coupe, that wasn’t the defining factor in most purchasing decisions. Perhaps the rest of the car was just too damn good for the looks to even matter, but the enduring traits that are most romanticized when walking down memory lane with a past owner usually pertain to the driving experience.
This generation of BMW models was pushing technological boundaries in every respect. The 5 Series introduced soft-close doors. The E63 M6 had a V10 and paddle shifters so that Munich’s marketing department could make a tenuous but feasible link to Formula 1. Before these cars and perhaps most importantly, the E65 7 Series introduced a novel system that cracked the infotainment ergonomics code: iDrive.
This is all during the infamous Chris Bangle era. His notorious “flame surfacing” design language was so controversial that many fanatics called for his head, figuratively and literally, for years. My voice was among the throngs of angry fanatics who decried going from the style of the effortlessly elegant E38 to the challenging chimera that was the E65, a car with a game-changing interface but soulless styling. The automaker’s self-published monthly BMW Magazine barely acknowledged the controversy. It was as if a decision had been made to not even admit there was a problem.
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Bold or silly?
Indeed, when the E65 7 Series debuted in 2001, several commentators warned that BMW might be dooming itself to failure, but by the time the 3 Series arrived just six years later, the general public had stopped taking offense to Bangle’s quirky design philosophy. As the 2010s approached, most were more interested in the universally adored rotary iDrive controller, early (but still decent) dual-clutch transmissions, and primitive LED technology, not to mention the smoothness of each engine and the agility of every chassis.
The original offender, the eternally ugly E65, is the least loved BMW of this era, but it still became the best-selling 7 Series ever. Let that sink in.
BMW executives didn’t know that it would be a record-breaker, and it’d be reasonable to expect them to kick Bangle Butt (ha!) before introducing the bread-and-butter 3 Series, yet they stuck with him. Probably best, since he soaked up public abuse despite not actually penning that specific design in the first place. The E90 arrived with similar stylistic principles, and before long, the forums were ablaze. Not with petitions for a stylistic renaissance – as always, sales were strong – but with tales of 335i owners using the first mass-produced turbocharged BMW engine in decades to give M3 drivers a run for their money. Who cared about the looks? V8 muscle cars were fair game in a family sedan.
BMW Has Made Design Controversy Part Of Its Modern Heritage
One might argue that post-Bangle BMW has intentionally fostered controversy by continually pushing the design envelope, but whatever direction it has taken for each generation of new car, the accompanying performance and technology have more often than not been comparable to or better than what’s on offer from direct rivals. The obvious exception – and I’ll flog this horse until my arms fall off – is the XM, which is neither beautiful nor brilliant. Still, in a world where “too much is just right,” the XM plays a role in making tongues wag.
Keeping Bangle on was a masterstroke that paved the way for today’s BMW to intentionally go viral with unexpected design choices. By supporting his talent, which cannot be questioned in light of the marvelously picturesque Z8, and by sticking with controversial but well considered design choices, BMW showed the world that it didn’t care about a few loudmouths and their criticisms as long as it knew it had a good product to sell. Time has proven that the cars were good, and this now allows the brand to get away with its current G-series monstrosities with no negative impact on sales. People know that the car is good even if the styling is bold and unconventional. Despite this, BMW has created an easily recognizable identity, and this can be either awkward or excellent depending on what the market wants.
Bangle’s era was defined by controversy while the F-series vehicles felt less experimental in their designs, but both of them paid respect to Paul Bracq and Wilhelm Hofmeister’s indelible influence with remarkable success. Both generations have aged with remarkable grace. Will the G-series vehicles do the same? Time will tell, but future BMW designs will imminently change tack again with a clean, simple, pure distillation of the brand’s visual identity.
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From Elegant, To Quirky, To Aggressive, And Back Again
After two decades of BMW acting as the antihero, the latest Neue Klasse concepts are timed to absolute perfection.
Just as we were all reaching our fill of Munich’s fantastical explanations for its design choices (and everybody else’s wacky and so-called “expressive” dilutions of elemental brand identity), the aesthetic experiment that was the iX has been resolved and refined, thereby modernizing but paying respect to the things that make a BMW design easy to identify: kidney grilles, Hofmeister kinks, and twin accents in each headlight.
While each Neue Klasse concept has a unique take on the grilles, they are both clearly related through other ideas that Head of i Design Kai Langer has introduced. These include a lowered beltline inspired by the E30 that reduces visual height, increases visual space, and makes the whole car more inviting. Two versions of a similar front fascia enable a variety of visual personalities to shine through, and I, for one, can’t wait to see the sportier and more luxury-focused interpretations of this new cosmetic approach.
Inside, the backlit dash increases the impression of expanse, while the genius of the full-width head-up display is that it, too, increases visual space while simultaneously reducing driver distraction. A 2003 Renault Espace has similar principles applied in the design of its instrumentation, but 20 years of technological progress have perfected the idea. Its implementation is remarkable enough, but the next-generation infotainment system looks like another leap forward with what appears to be the first truly customizable, truly smartphone-like interface.
BMW is about to gain a whole lot more fans, but they won’t be disappointed by what lies beneath the surface, and this has always been the key to attracting new customers. A BMW has to feel superior in nearly every way, and based on first impressions, these two concepts give off all the right vibes.
All hail Kai Langer. He has made one of the most treacherous mandates in the industry – revitalizing classic cues while integrating cutting edge technology – look effortless.
I rejoice that BMWs are going to be comely again, if not outright stunning. Light signatures replacing chrome? I’m here for it. I can already see a modern Z8 Roadster/507 reincarnation as an electric, hydrogen-powered, or synthetically fueled roadster. The best designs will doubtless be reserved for low-volume special editions.
Despite what BMW may say, I believe that the Concept Touring Coupe (or something very similar) will be manufactured someday soon, and the recent introduction of a straight-six-powered Z4 with a manual transmission is just preparation for that special edition. After dipping a toe into the pond of bespokery with the 3.0 CSL, BMW is now perfectly poised to start attracting more high-end customers, potentially with the assistance of the Alpina brand. There is thus no better time for BMW to revert to classical beauty in all its designs.
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Don’t get me wrong. The i5 proves that the transition will not be easy, and the end results (which may be almost totally devoid of curves) still won’t be to everyone’s liking. But remember that BMW still has award-winning engines, is about to change the automotive interior technology game once again, and if we’re forced into EVs, Munich’s magicians have that covered, too.
Again, BMW is not a design firm or a motorsport team. It’s a tech giant, and while an attractive design is sure to garner applause, the last three generations of vehicles have proven that global infatuation is not necessary for BMW to be wildly successful.
With that in mind, let’s enjoy what comes over the next 15 years or so, because when people inevitably start calling tomorrow’s BMWs bland or boring, the design team will surely make a big U-turn once again.
