BMW Design Boss Says No to Retro Styling, Yes to Meaningful Looks

That is not the only thing planned by BMW's design director. While criticized for the large grilles of the marque's latest models, Dukec explained in an interview with Autocar that he preferred to go with bold instead of bland. Domagoj Dukec also noted that it is in BMW's style to "do bold statements."

The Frankfurt-born Croat has led the BMW design team since April 2019, but he has worked within the company as chief designer for various wings since 2010. Before being named head of BMW's design team, Dukec was head of design for BMW i and BMW M, which have remained under his leadership even after his promotion.

As we explained in the story regarding the return of the New Class, BMW wants to launch a broad line-up of electric vehicles, and the name is there to underline their importance. However, the company's head of design explained that the retro-named line-up will not be a homage to the cars of the 1960s, but some styling elements from those models will be applied to other BMW future models.

According to Dukec's statement, the focus is on sustainability, as well as using entirely recycled materials, or at least recyclable ones. The company will also cut back on chrome details. All the ideas above were already shown on the BMW i Vision Circular Concept, which will guide the look of these future BMW models.

Moreover, BMW's styling boss also spoke about meaningful design. A good example of that is the use of large kidney grilles on the iX and the i4, but fitting sensors inside those otherwise blocked-out grilles.

Fortunately, Dukec's styling will not only rest on big grilles, as there's more to BMW than that. We can't wait to see what he has lined up for the Munich marque's future.