Photo: theophilus chin
Not too long ago, Theophilus Chin had the brilliant idea of replacing the kidney grilles on a couple of BMWs, just to see how they look like. Surprisingly, the cars ended up looking slightly like Kias, an unexpected twist if you ask the Koreeans. However, the Asians have been known to copy other manufacturers. How would their cars do if they received the trademark styling cue of Bimmers? Let’s see!
Theophilus wanted to see as well so he put together another set of renderings, this time, with Kias. They all received kidney grilles and the results speak for themselves: someone is stealing design ideas from the Germans…
While not all of them have a direct counterpart in BMW’s line-up, some are dangerously similar looking. Take the Cadenza, for example. That’s the closest car to the 5 Series apart from… the 5 Series. The same goes for the K9 that seems to be the 7 Series’ twin brother from South Korea.
The Kia cee’d seems to be on par with the 2 Series Active Tourer, if you can look past the exterior dimensions. This looks exactly like a smaller version of the BMW. At the same time, the Ray reminds us of the i3 but only ever so slightly.
So, what do you think? Could there be some actual malevolence behind Kia’s design, is it just a coincidence or has the kidney grille become of such importance that it absolutely changes everything it touches into a BMW?
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