Each manufacturer has its own trademark lines and design cues. Whether it's BMW's Angel Eyes, kidney grilles or even the Hofmeister kink, or Buick's Ventiports or Corvettes' round taillights, each manufacturer in the world has a certain trademark design.
Initially launched on the refreshed version of the E39 5 Series back in 2001, the angel eyes are actually rings of light that surround the headlight and have become one of the brand's distinguishing trademarks.
At first, the angel eyes had to be manually turned and had a orange-ish hue but along the years, they evolved, becoming BMW's daytime running lights and changing color and shape at the same time.
These days, the angel eyes changed their color and their shape correspondingly. Now, they have a rectangle shape, going further away from the original concept. Furthermore, if at the beginning they all had the same size, now we can spot them in variations throughout the whole BMW line-up.
The thing is, no matter how much they change, they will still remain a trademark feature of Bavarian cars for a long time, forever inspiring that angry feeling whenever you spot them and that is all that matters.
To put things in perspective, Jim Hall, analyst for 2953 Analytics, took the time to explain for Autoline Detroit, a few things about design and styling cues in the automotive industry. It's quite a good video and we recommend you take 3 minutes of your schedule to watch it.
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