It seems we can’t get a break from BMW’s adventurous design efforts these days. Just as the conversation on one subject like the 4-Series’ coffin grilles or the X3’s sunglass-shaped grilles cools down, BMW the menace strikes again with even bigger and bolder creations. Are they nuts? Far from it, I would say. Am I fan? Nein, and I made that clear in the op-ed piece with Chris Chilton.
However, to suggest that BMW and their design department headed by Domagoj Dukec have lost their marbles or they’ve gone blind is an oversimplification and simply not true. Munich knew the XM Concept was going to be controversial, they knew it would never sit well with purists, and they sure as hell knew it would lift a shitstorm of comments. Anyone who claims the opposite is just naive.
Remember The Chris Bangle Era?
BMW 760iL E66
Much like it did during Chris Bangle’s era when they sold a ton of controversially designed (yet in comparison, more fluidly styled) cars, BMW’s brass has deliberately opted to draw massive attention to its builds. Otherwise, after the widespread criticism they received about their recent design endeavors and especially the latest BMW 4-Series grille, they had a golden opportunity with the XM, which was made to celebrate the M brand’s 50th anniversary, to break rank or even just test the waters with something new and far less polarizing. Instead, they doubled down.
Read: Is BMW’s Concept XM Genius Or Madness? Two CarScoops Editors Argue It Out
Why would they do that? My theory and understanding is because they want to be the ‘supervillain’ of the automotive business during this fashion cycle. Remember, just like the fashion industry, the automotive business goes through cycles to ramp up and/or renew interest. Sometimes it’s retro comebacks, sometimes its bulbous shapes, sometimes it’s claw-shaped lights and other times its massive fins and grilles. Now with BMW its pure shock value stemming from exaggerated details and in general, a clash or a hodgepodge of differing design elements and styling trends justified by nonsensical descriptions like “raw and massive, monolithic appearance” and cathedral-like interiors in the case of the XM.
With the rapid advent of the all-electric age, mechanical components will eventually take a back seat in the sense that there’s not much, if any, diversification going on under the hood beyond battery tech and range, none of which can touch drivers emotionally. Therefore, constantly changing and adventurous designs will become an increasingly more important tool in the hands of automakers for differentiating and adding emotion to their products. Unlike other fields like the cell phone industry which has converged so much these days that you can hardly tell one from another, the automobile industry can luckily still sell you a unique design and form. While the XM isn’t a pure electric car but a plug-in hybrid, in BMW’s mind, it’s a transitional product, which explains why it follows and, in some ways, even shows the way to the brand’s future dedicated electric models.
It’s Hip To Be Controversial And A Super-Villain. Just Ask Tekashi 6ix9ine
There are various ways to distance yourself from the competition, and being controversial and combative has proven to be a successful tactic in many opposing fields – if used correctly. Tekashi 6ix9ine, an American rapper from Brooklyn, shot to global fame from nowhere basically by being steeped in shock value and mired in controversy with his social media antics – even if he ended up briefly going to jail, but that’s another story. BMW’s XM is the shock-value bad boy of performance SUVs that greedily wants all your attention even if it’s only about hating it. BMW is perfectly fine with that. You’re still talking about it all the time; you’re here doing it as we speak now. The more you hate it, the more BMW will continue down this path – just you wait for the next X7, i7 and 7 Series.
Pontiac Aztek
See: BMW’s 750-HP Concept XM Revealed And It’s Even Scarier Than We Imagined
Controversy sells in the right hands and BMW was, and still is, capable of profiting from contention. That doesn’t mean all companies can; look at Pontiac with their Aztec or SsangYong with their distasteful creations in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Beyond their exterior shells, was there anything else that would have caught your attention? And that’s the thing with BMW; they can sell you a shock-value design as part of an otherwise comprehensive package that is anything but divisive. How many other brands can lay claim to that?
There’s More To BMW Than Just Design
You see, you’re not only buying into a divisive design that the internet (mostly) hates but at the same, instantly recognizes; you’re also buying all the latest and greatest tech and performance, top interior build and material quality, a universally respected premium name, and a very capable dealer network. Reality is, it all counts when you’re not just being critical behind a keyboard and you’re actually putting your money where your mouth is.
People buy premium cars for many reasons, and standing out from the crowd has always been a top priority in this segment. BMW is proving time and time again that it can not only get away with polarizing, shocking – call it whatever you want – design choices, but surprisingly make them one of their strongest selling points for the masses.