Photo: ali.car.designer / Instagram
When I was younger, BMW got thrashed for its Bangle age. Now the Bavarians are being taken into fan-based Hell for their “double-coffin” kidney grille. Based on experience, some may think the storm will pass.
What I’m trying to say is that BMW – just like any other automaker, for that matter – is no stranger to controversy. It clearly alternates with the good times when its designs are considered timeless and/or legendary. But, without trying to defend its recent styling calls, anyone who’s ever seen an M4 up close and personally knows the reality’s not 100% dire.
With that said, I also condemn BMW’s stubbornness to blatantly (and publicly) disregard its enthusiasts and their opinions. Or the fact it’s inconsistent with the new, polemic-inducing grille design (take the 2 Series Coupe and Active Tourer for example). And if anyone needs another proof that its retro-influenced humongous grille isn’t actually befitting of past heroes, here’s something old and new at the same time to try and persuade you.
Frankly, I have seen the new grille splashed on about everything, including on a Freightliner Cascadia heavy-duty semi-truck... if you can believe it. But even face-swapping has its limits, or does it? Well, the virtual artist behind the ali.car.designer account on social media manages to poke both creepy and plain old fun at BMW's current “sporty” design language like no one else.
Seriously, if anyone needed a hilariously outrageous example of how the giant grille doesn’t have anything to do with past legends, here’s an E30 3 Series Convertible looking a bit confused. To me, it now has the same face as seen on Wile E. Coyote’s during the moment of realization that something went horribly wrong... again.
As always, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but even the pixel master knows he/she made this solely for laughs. That’s a given, considering the comment of how this could help the second-generation 3 Series move into the future and live its life through something like 2032... Yeah, right, like they would stop panning this design by then!
With that said, I also condemn BMW’s stubbornness to blatantly (and publicly) disregard its enthusiasts and their opinions. Or the fact it’s inconsistent with the new, polemic-inducing grille design (take the 2 Series Coupe and Active Tourer for example). And if anyone needs another proof that its retro-influenced humongous grille isn’t actually befitting of past heroes, here’s something old and new at the same time to try and persuade you.
Frankly, I have seen the new grille splashed on about everything, including on a Freightliner Cascadia heavy-duty semi-truck... if you can believe it. But even face-swapping has its limits, or does it? Well, the virtual artist behind the ali.car.designer account on social media manages to poke both creepy and plain old fun at BMW's current “sporty” design language like no one else.
Seriously, if anyone needed a hilariously outrageous example of how the giant grille doesn’t have anything to do with past legends, here’s an E30 3 Series Convertible looking a bit confused. To me, it now has the same face as seen on Wile E. Coyote’s during the moment of realization that something went horribly wrong... again.
As always, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but even the pixel master knows he/she made this solely for laughs. That’s a given, considering the comment of how this could help the second-generation 3 Series move into the future and live its life through something like 2032... Yeah, right, like they would stop panning this design by then!
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