It wasn't that long ago that we learned that Audi wanted to end its “matrix doll” approach to styling. Now it's BMW, in the words of the BMW Group's senior vice president of design, Adrian van Hooydonk, speaking to Automotive News, that announces a new, cleaner style and also more differentiated models.
Let's clean; let's use fewer lines; the lines we will have will be more sharp and precise. Inside, we'll have fewer buttons — cars will start to show their intelligence, so we don't have to give them as many commands.
With this cleaner, more precise styling, van Hooydonk also points out that BMW designers will further distance each model from its “closest relative” — “they will find cars that are stronger in character and more separate from each other”.
The six models of change
It was up to the BMW X2 to debut this new approach. It maintains the elements that have almost always identified BMWs — the double kidney grille and, more recently, the dual optics. But the grill, for example, appears inverted compared to other models of the brand.
It will be precisely in the set of optics-grid, where a large part of the model's identity resides, that we will see the greatest differences between models.
The X2 also dispensed with the coupe-like arched roofline, as can be seen on the X4 and X6, and the brand symbol is embedded in the C-pillar, a reference to one of the most revered coupés in the brand's history — the E9 3.0 CS from the brand. 70s. Detail that will be exclusive to the X2, according to van Hooydonk, "because we wanted it to be something that people could recognize in this car in the middle of traffic".
In addition to the X2, this new approach can be seen in BMW launches in 2018. They are the new X4 and X5, new generation of the 3 Series, the 8 Series and the X7, with the last two already anticipated by prototypes.
Differentiation between models: the priority
This new approach to the brand's styling is a clear response to the criticism the double kidney brand's latest releases have received. Despite being new generations, not only do they seem not to depart far enough from the models that followed, they also do not distinguish themselves sufficiently between the other elements of the range — only the scale varies, like the “matrix dolls”.
According to van Hooydonk, there are two ways to look at these considerations. Either the model's redesign was too timid, unable to give the perception of renewal that one wants from a new model or, as van Hooydonk suggests, “the competition has changed more than we have”.
If in the past, BMW alternated a major change in design language with a smaller one, making the "jumps" take place every two generations, in today's world — faster and with more competitors — the change in language also to be more accelerated.
That's why BMW will introduce something new for the brand in every new or updated model that comes along.
