BMW is embarking on a bold new era led by design director Domagoj Dukec and while some of the carmaker’s most recent models have caused controversy, Dukec says the brand needs innovative designs.
Dukec will play an instrumental role in BMW’s ongoing shift towards electrification and during a recent interview, used the recent i Vision Circular concept as an example of how the brand’s designs “must be bold and meaningful.”
“You can do bold through many tricks. Everybody knows how to make a car attractive, but if it’s not meaningful, it’s empty,” he told Autocar.
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As BMW’s designs progress, Dukec said famous traits such as the kidney grilles and Hofmeister kink will be retained but will morph into areas of innovation. For example, the kidney grilles of the electric i4 and iX house the various forward-facing sensors of the cars.
“In the past few years, there has been a lot of discussion about our kidney but it’s important we bring future customer generations and fans together,” Dukec said. “Fans aren’t always customers, but we want customers to become fans. You can’t just design to keep your icons alive: you have to create new ones. Why is the Neue Klasse iconic? Why do people love the Hofmeister kink? Because they were innovative.”
As part of BMW’s transition to electromobility, it is reviving the Neue Klasse (New Class) name from the 1960s with a flexible platform that will replace the FAAR and CLAR architectures and will be used by a plethora of new models.
“Neue Klasse will stand for electrification, digitalization and sustainability,” Dukec added. “We’re asking: ‘How can we make a car that’s sustainable and intelligent and do more with less?’ This is something that’s very authentic to BMW. As designers, it’s about rethinking and reducing. It’s how we treat materials – not using chrome, creating materials to use less leather. For us, electrification alone isn’t the sustainable path it is for others. They think they make electric cars and there, work done. But the problem is bigger.”
