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BMW X8 Rendered Based on Latest Spy Shots Looks Right and Wrong at the Same Time

There are two types of renderings: those that try to make a beautiful car, and those that try to predict a future model as accurately as possible. When the upcoming model happens to have a nice exterior design, the two can naturally overlap.
BMW X8 rendering 7 photos
Photo: Kolesa.ru / Kelsonik via Instagram
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That hasn't been the case lately for BMW. The Bavarians are going through a rough patch as they seem to be looking for a new visual identity, one that's more in line with the times, but also relevant to the brand's legacy. Marrying the two was never going to be an easy task - you are essentially attempting to reconcile the two opposing concepts of past and present, after all.

However, you can't help feeling as though BMW has made a bigger mess of it than it should have. We've seen how other independent designers managed to come up with a clean, modern, and definitely BMW-like design language for the brand, and if they could do it, so should the company's employees that are getting paid for it.

We all know the decisions inside a big company don't fall in the hands of one person and are usually based on extensive research and focus groups and tons of market research data, but that only makes some of BMW's latest decisions all the more baffling. At the end of the day, sales will be the ultimate barometer, but just because they're not terrible, that doesn't mean a better design couldn't have had a positive impact.

The main problem with BMW's approach to its vehicles' styling, the way we see it, is that it's trying too hard. Whoever told the company's decision-makers that modern means busy was not their friend. We thought the big grille of the new 4 Series was a problem, but little did we know at that time what the Bavarians had in store for the 7 Series and the rest of the larger models.

One of said models is the X8, the slightly less practical version of the X7 that BMW would like us to call "sportier”, but we just can't bring ourselves to do it. It's basically an X7 for the family man or woman who still hasn't come to grips with their status and would like to project a different image for everyone else.

The prototypes doing the rounds for the testing phase are still wearing plenty of camouflage but, based on everything we know so far about BMW's new visual identity, it's easy to imagine what it all looks like underneath. However, why bother to strain your imagination when somebody has already waved their magic wand and made all that psychedelic wrap disappear in the most convincing manner.

Nikita Chuicko is so confident in his work that he's even included a side-by-side image comparison between his rendering, and the source picture he used. There are still a few small details that could vary, but the main shapes and volumes seem to fit perfectly. That means we're looking at a visual representation of the upcoming BMW X8 that is about 95% accurate.

BMWs have this reputation of looking better in the flesh than in pictures and, given their latest offerings, they never needed that to be true more than now. We're probably making too much of it ourselves - it's just something we'll get used to in the end, and everything will get back to normal. The Earth's population is expanding, after all: some will stop buying BMWs because of their new design, oddballs will get one just for that - the important thing is BMW will survive.

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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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