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Don’t You Think the BMW i Vision Dee and the Peugeot Inception Concept Are Kinda Similar?

When I followed the CES 2023, I thought that BMW must have felt like that lady who spent a fortune on a new dress for a cool party and found another woman there dressing exactly like her. I thought Peugeot was the other woman. BMW’s dress was the i Vision Dee, while Peugeot named its “clothes” Inception Concept. Trying to investigate their similarities, I confirmed that perceptions could be very particular.
I think the BMW i Vision Dee and the Peugeot Inception Concept are more similar than they should be. How about you? 7 photos
Photo: BMW/Stellantis/edited by autoevolution
I think the BMW i Vision Dee and the Peugeot Inception Concept are more similar than they should be. How about you?I think the BMW i Vision Dee and the Peugeot Inception Concept are more similar than they should be. How about you?I think the BMW i Vision Dee and the Peugeot Inception Concept are more similar than they should be. How about you?I think the BMW i Vision Dee and the Peugeot Inception Concept are more similar than they should be. How about you?I think the BMW i Vision Dee and the Peugeot Inception Concept are more similar than they should be. How about you?I think the BMW i Vision Dee and the Peugeot Inception Concept are more similar than they should be. How about you?
I agree that there are differences in propositions and features, but the proportions and general lines made me check one of them and think I had already seen it elsewhere. The headlights have the same light stripes at the same angles, even if the BMW presents only two and the Peugeot has three. The concept sedans show a truncated rear that is more truncated in the Inception, making it look like a two-and-a-half box design, as people used to joke about the Ford Escort. The thick and inclined C-pillar is another common design element.

When you observe just the profile of these concepts, another car comes to mind: it’s the Nissan IDx, introduced ten years ago at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show. Despite earning the public’s enthusiasm and critics' approval, the Japanese company never put this car on production lines. What is it about this shape that was so popular so many years ago and makes a comeback with two different companies at the same event? I decided to investigate that.

When cars start to look pretty much alike, there are generally two primary explanations: legislation or aerodynamics. I immediately discarded the legislation hypothesis. Regarding aerodynamics, more streamlined shapes are usually a consequence of legal requirements for more efficiency and lower emissions.

I think the BMW i Vision Dee and the Peugeot Inception Concept are more similar than they should be\. How about you\?
Photo: BMW
Another possibility for designs to be too similar among cars from different brands is often badge engineering’s fault. That does not apply to concepts, and I don’t remember ever hearing of BMW and Peugeot collaborating on anything, so I ignored that cost-cutting measure and concentrated on the similar shapes these concept cars present.

That said, my two main starting points for this investigation were something related to aerodynamics or a design trend that I was not aware of, so I contacted two specialists in each of these areas.

I spoke to Wouter Remmerie about the possibility that this design offers aerodynamic benefits that could not be that obvious. After all, most cars with that goal have shapes that suggest seamless airflow. The AirShaper founder told me he did not see how aerodynamics could have played a role in this coincidence.

“The body layout and sometimes sharp edges around the nose/greenhouse are not really a great starting point for aerodynamics (although much can be mitigated). So neither car looks to be optimized for aerodynamics, at first glance…”

I think the BMW i Vision Dee and the Peugeot Inception Concept are more similar than they should be\. How about you\?
Photo: Stellantis
As the similar shapes could not be explained by aerodynamics, I decided to ask João Marcos Ramos about the similarities I thought the concepts had. Ramos worked at Ford for 20 years in Brazil and the U.S., where he helped design the interior of the Ford Bronco. In Brazil, he was in charge of the Ford Ka and EcoSport. I was careful enough to ask him first if he thought the two concepts were similar. The designer didn’t.

“I honestly did not think these two cars look alike, apart from being sedans. The BMW clearly has a retro design, with 1970s language and very defined and primitive lines. Even so, it lacks personality. As for the Peugeot, it has convoluted lines without a well-defined language. Exaggerated surface transitions that suggest something crumpled, such as the body side, do annoy me. I did not like it.”

I think the BMW i Vision Dee and the Peugeot Inception Concept are more similar than they should be\. How about you\?
Photo: BMW
For Ramos, the IDx also follows a retro styling but uses a famous reference that may explain why people loved it so much: the 1968 Datsun 510. Could these two modern concepts also draw inspiration from the Datsun or a similar vehicle from the past? Perhaps, but Ramos did not relate them to any known design.

In the end, there seemed to be nothing to explain why these designs looked so similar to me. Talking to Ramos was helpful to have an experienced design professional analyze the styling and tell me how wrong I probably am. As grateful as I am for his help, I still see the two concepts as more similar than they should be, for the reasons I already exposed above. Without an explanation to give, I decided to share my impressions just to check if I am alone in that feeling that these two concepts could be seen as two versions of the same thing.

In the gallery, I have joined the images that made me think these vehicles were similar in a sequence that will show first the BMW, then the Peugeot. I invite you to play with the gallery and give your verdict in the comments. Do not refrain from doing just like Ramos and sharing your honest opinion on these CES stars. You may end up with the same impression I still have.
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About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
Gustavo Henrique Ruffo profile photo

Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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