It’s no secret that BMW’s latest designs have not been well received everywhere, and the company has responded to criticism in uncharacteristic and groundbreaking ways. There are many cars that can be described as visually polarizing, but BMW’s constant defense of itself while dismiss critics as ‘boomers’ while many of its clients are basically boomers, it’s a strange and fascinating drama to watch unfolding on social media.
In his final defense, BMW design heads Adrian van Hooydonk and Domagoj Dukec spoke with Top gear in an effort to downplay the resistance, but welcome it at the same time. To be honest, there is nothing explicitly wrong with most of what Hooydonk and Dukec are saying here. There is a lot in the area “you can’t please everyone ¯ _ (ツ) _ / ¯”.
Honestly, if you were in their position what could you really say? Especially like “Yeah, we messed that up, didn’t we?” is not really an option.
Still, Dukec’s rationale is not particularly convincing, as it is based on this formless, unspecified desire to ‘stand out’.
“You can make something beautiful, and we also have cars that are just beautiful. But there are some customers who, if you want to reach them, you have to stand out. You have to make something that is not aligned; maybe not as an everyday car or an everyday product, but that’s exactly why. “
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Sure, standing out seems like a challenge when you build a series of nearly indistinguishable crossovers of marginally different sizes and then propel them into a market populated by the similarly structured offerings of your competitors. But you don’t necessarily have to shock or disappoint most of your audience to be remembered, especially if you have a rich legacy of beautiful and high-performing cars that were generally popular. The turning of the heel is completely self-motivated and not easy to understand, at least from the outside.
Dukec loses me even further with his next comment about the 4 Series in particular, the car that has received most of the scorn:
“Not all of our products receive the same criticism,” said Dukec. “You can tell from something as polarizing as the kidneys on Series 4, 20 percent of people like it. That suits the type of customers we focus on.
This goes back to a percentage breakdown of how BMW sees its customers by classifying them with demographic labels as “elegant makers” and “expressive artists” – you know, real marketing stuff. But in no dimension can I consider a 20 percent approval rating a win. I think the subtext here is that BMW is looking for an extraordinarily demanding type of customer who wants to be seen as edgy and bold and interesting, a person whose confidence is derived from having a giant schnoz on the front of their luxury sedan. I can’t help but read an air of superiority here too. If you don’t ‘get’ it, you just aren’t ‘elegant’ or ‘expressive’ enough to become BMW.
Between all that and the passive insults lured to the most passionate fans on Twitter every time someone at BMW opens their mouth about design these days, they only seem to be digging deeper. I really hate to be that guy who wistfully notes how everything used to be so much better, and I’ve been desperately trying to say something positive about the front-end treatment of the new 4 and 7 Series, or the iX – but I can’t find it.
BMW never really seemed like a brand that deals with attention, and that’s what makes this all so strange. Regardless, it is apparently very concerned about that today, and to the credit of the company’s designers, it has certainly found ways to stand out. Van Hooydonk looks back at the uproar with a favorable twist:
“It’s really fantastic [if you have fans]. It means that you have people who not only buy your products, but also love what you do. Of course, if they like what you do, they may have a problem with it when you change it.
Remember, no matter what people say, they are only disappointed in you because they love you. That’s something I think we can all benefit from if we take it to heart.