BMW Group Head of Design Adriaen van Hooydonk responded to criticism of the company's new models and talked about what to expect in the future.
Dutchman Adrian van Hooydonk joined BMW in 1992 and took up his current management position in 2009, succeeding the infamous Chris Bangle. Modern BMW models often cause no less controversy than the ever-memorable «seven» BMW of the E65/E66 generation, it's just that van Hooydonk, let's say, «spreads» innovations over several models, and does not bring them all down to one.
BMW M4 Cabrio
The BMW premieres of the last three years have greatly increased the degree of controversy among fans of the Bavarian brand and just lovers of automotive design: the giant nostrils of the current BMW M3/M4, the two-tiered head “optics” of the BMW 7 Series and BMW X7, the monstrous BMW XM, the strange proportions of the new BMW Not everyone likes the 5 Series and the general over-detailing, and so categorically that people literally curse the BMW design department and accuse it of betraying the brand's traditions.
BMW XM
Meanwhile, Adrian van Hooydonk and his team are just very careful about the history of BMW and are well versed in the classics, but do not believe that the reproduction of old clichés will lead the company to success. Almost all BMW models of the 70s, 80s and early 90s are considered the standard of verified style, but this does not mean that this style will be massively in demand today and in the future, and the design department must look to the future, as Adrian
BMW i5
According to van Hooydonk, his team is currently working on models that will be released in 2025-2026 and must remain relevant until about 2023, that is, until the end of their life cycle on the assembly line. It turns out that designers have to look ten years ahead and offer solutions for tomorrow, and not indulge today's tastes of the public. What is perceived with hostility today, tomorrow may become a commonplace, that is, a familiar decision that does not cause rejection in anyone.
BMW i7
At the same time, the head of the design department sees and carefully studies criticism of new BMW products and some adjustments to future models makes: in particular, he promises that in a couple of years the design of BMW will be cleaner, that is, too complex plastic body panels will become a thing of the past. But the company will continue to experiment with branded nostrils, because this is just in the tradition of BMW: in the history of the brand, the shape of the nostrils and their position on the body have constantly changed, this will continue to be the case, but designers, of course, will try to give them the most harmonious for each specific model. look, a single solution is not worth waiting for.
Let's add that sales of the BMW brand, despite the subsiding controversy around design, remain quite high: in the first quarter of this year, 517,957 cars were sold, which is 0 .4% less than in January-March 2022, while the demand for high-margin sports models of BMW M GmbH increased by 18.9% to 46,430 units.
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