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The new BMW 4 Series carries the kidney stone of the stumbling block: the extra-large radiator grille, the iconic BMW kidney grille, appalles some fans - and meets with enthusiasm from others.
Photo: Fabian Kirchbauer / BMW
Mercedes star, Audi rings, BMW kidney grille - with many car models one look is enough to clearly identify the brand.
Such a prominent identification mark is a blessing for manufacturers, because since the SUV boom at the latest, cars have continued to look alike: whether combustion, hybrid or electrical technology, it is usually found in the body of a mini truck.
The star, rings, kidney or other brand symbols are therefore often the only remaining feature on the car to unequivocally determine its origin.
And so not only the cars got bigger and bigger, but also the brands.
The VW logo has now reached plate size on some models, as does the Mercedes star.
At Audi, the four rings remained comparatively discreet, but they have been sitting in the middle of a huge barred throat, the so-called single-frame radiator grille, for around 15 years.
Ridicule of the "monster kidneys"
BMW is now apparently relying on this effect with a similar design maneuver.
The latest models from the Munich carmaker irritated experts and fans, especially with the grotesquely large BMW kidneys.
There is no technical justification for the element, especially since it will also be used in the future i4 electric model.
Social media posts scoff at "monster kidneys" and "oversized buck teeth", others recognize a "gaping wound" or ask: "Why does the grill look like the entrance to a water slide?" The two vertically designed XXL cooling air openings certainly cause excitement in the brand fans' warehouse.
Trademarks can therefore not only be a blessing, but also a curse.
BMW traditionalists seem to be particularly sensitive to design experiments.
Many in the Munich headquarters still remember the last major battle of this kind, which was not about a provocative design of the front end, but the rear.
The BMW 7 Series (E65), released in 2001, had a baroque trunk lid from the then head of design, Chris Bangle.
The creation was reviled as a "bangle butt".
Some critics got so upset that they started the Internet petition "Stop Bangle".
At that time, VW's head of design, Hartmut Warkuß, even joined the ranks of mockers and called the car "a heap of uncoordinated sheet metal".
"Vertical and very expressive"
It's similar now.
This time, car designer Frank Stephenson, who worked for Ford, BMW, Mini, Ferrari and Fiat, among others, spoke on his YouTube channel: “The grill looks as if the designers didn't even know that they had the kidneys for a new BMW design.
The proportions don't match the rest of the car at all.
It almost looks as if the grill didn't come from BMW, but from someone else. "
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Of course this is nonsense.
"The double kidney grille is the central brand identifier," says BMW chief designer Domagoj Dukec.
»It's an iconic graphic whose shape has been varied over and over again over decades.
In the new BMW 4 Series, it is again vertical and very expressive - and therefore deliberately polarizing.
Because people who choose this car do so primarily for emotional reasons. "Lutz Fügener, Professor of Transportation Design at Pforzheim University, has a similar view:" Now you can see a difference to other BMW models, that is ever good.
I also think it's logical to pull the most important element over the entire height of the front section - before that, the BMW kidney grille looked rather unimportant. "
How do you differentiate 40 different models?
Dukec - like probably most of his professional colleagues - has the problem of tailoring the different BMW types to the most specific target groups possible.
This could be done with four or six different models, but there are now around 40 different BMW models.
So it's imperative that a few of them go well beyond the aesthetic mainstream.
Firstly, because otherwise all cars would look pretty much the same, and secondly, in order to attract even shrill buyer groups to the brand.
The majority of BMW models, according to Dukec, appeal to more cautiously rational-oriented customers, so-called "elegant creators".
But there are also the »expressive performers« who want to attract attention with their vehicle.
That is the clientele that every automaker wants.
Because these people are ready to shell out a lot of money if they get a car that makes neighbors, colleagues or clique green with envy.
In some circles it's a BMW 4 Series.
Tuners are already thinking about conversion kits
For some, the discussion could at least lead to a business model: The tuning company Prior from Kamp-Lintfort recently posted a video on YouTube in which company boss Anderas Belzek presented a modified front end for the sports variant BMW M4.
The massive double kidney becomes two flat kidneys, as we have known them for years.
It is not yet clear whether the conversion kit will be launched.
BMW can be satisfied because people are now talking about the car and its design.
So the marketing people will gloss over the discussion.
In fact, they should be alarmed.
Because the look of a car is not only effective in the sales room of a car dealer, but also later on on the street.
Where should it lead when cars are designed to be particularly intrusive, presumptuous and aggressive?
Just a few weeks ago, the Association of the Insurance Industry published the study "Verkehrsklima 2020".
Central finding: The aggressiveness in road traffic continues to increase.
Possibly also because the look of many cars - beefy like armored cars, windows like loopholes, front parts like grimaces - clearly symbolizes: my right of way first!
What future are BMW designers designing for?
Car designers, it is often said, always have a few years in the future professionally.
If that's the case - what future did the BMW creatives have in mind when they concocted the new, gigantic kidneys?
Certainly not one in which cars no longer automatically play the leading role on the streets.
A lot of things point to this: namely, that the streets, especially in cities and villages, will have to be much more cooperative and considerate in the future if the flow of traffic, safety and climate protection are to be improved.
A beautiful vision?
Perhaps.
But one that designers should gradually develop a shape for.
In any case, simply inflating kidneys, stars or other details is not enough.
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