BMW Starts Major Design Overhaul

Let’s face it: BMW has slumped into boring design. Over the holidays I was at the mall with kids. The local BMW dealership had strategically placed vehicles near every entrance, you know, so you’ll lust after a Bimmer while looking for sweaters at H&M.

“What kind of BMW is that?” one of my kids asked, pointed at a crossover (oh, I know, it’s an SAV).

I honestly had to stop and look at it hard, because the X3 and X5 are so similar from a distance, like the Audi A4 and A6. Not good.

Automotive News sat down with Adrian van Hooydonk, the head of styling for BMW Group. He said that different Bimmer models will become “stronger in character and separated more from one another.” At least someone else agrees things have become bland and too similar.

According to van Hooydonk, that means eliminating all the busy lines on the cars, simplifying designs. That’s great, because modern Bimmers have become horror vacui on wheels.

To get a feel for what’s coming down the pipeline, look at the X2. It most definitely has a distinct appearance next to the X1 and X3. So there you go, more personality from the Germans. I knew they could do it. Now, if they would do something about the annoyingly-long model names.