It seems that BMW is interested in more than just standing up for their larger kidney grille designs, with the carmaker’s design boss Domagoj Dukec recently saying that the kidney grille itself will endure as a design feature even on fully-electric BMWs of the future.
Dukec told Autoblog that BMW will keep the kidney grille despite the fact that electric cars don’t always require a grille on their front fascias in order to cool their powertrains.
The exec went on to explain that the kidney grille is what sets BMW apart from its rivals in terms of design, and that it is far more than just a cooling tool.
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“If you go really back in time to when the kidney started, there was a big difference between it and the classic grilles of other manufacturers. Look at the grille of a Rolls-Royce, for example. It was always the same shape as the radiator behind it.”
The original BMW 328 roadster and the 328 Hommage Concept from 2011
“For BMW, however, it was always the face of the car, and it wasn’t shaped like the radiator. The 328 had vertical openings. Splitting the grille in the middle was not the most efficient way to do it, but it was an aesthetic solution,” explained Dukec, who instructs his design team to constantly tweak the grille’s shape and dimensions, in order to ensure the end product suits each model’s character.
BMW is currently made up of three main pillars. Its core brand, the M brand and the new i brand. However, if you think that the three will soon feature totally different identities, it appears you’d be mistaken.
“We no longer see i on one side, positioned as the angel on the left shoulder, and M on the right shoulder as BMW’s devil. This doesn’t work anymore. We don’t want to make three parallel universes where we have three brands with different characters. We want to strengthen BMW as a brand with the help of two sub-brands which have two different roles. M4, i4, and 4 customers have one thing in common: They love BMW.”
BMW E31 3-Series next to the new X7 SUV. Photo credits Global Auto Exchange
The BMW design exec also had a short message for those who keep complaining about the increase in size of the kidney grille on models such as the X7, updated 7-Series and upcoming 4-Series.
“In the past, some people were actually complaining that we weren’t as self-confident as other brands, and no one complains about them when they have a grille that stretches [all the way] from left to right. Everybody who loves BMW will get used to it. People who are complaining are often not customers.”
