It’s no secret that BMW’s latest designs have not been well received everywhere and that the company has responded to criticism in uncharacteristic and outrageous ways at the border. There are many cars that could be described as visually polarizing, but BMW’s constant defense, however rejecting critics as “boomers” while many of its customers are actually boomers, it has been a strange and fascinating drama to see it unfold on social media.
In their latest defense, BMW chief designers Adrian van Hooydonk and Domagoj Dukec spoke Top Gear in an attempt to minimize, but also welcome simultaneously, the reaction. To be honest, there is nothing explicitly wrong in most of what Van Hooydonk and Dukec said here. Much falls into the territory “not everyone can be liked ¯ _ (ツ) _ / ¯”.
Honestly, if you were in his position, what else could you really say? Especially when “Yeah, we got a little bit of it, didn’t we?” it’s not really an option.
However, the reason given by Dukec is not particularly convincing, as it is based on this formless and unspecified desire to “stand out”.
“You can create something beautiful and we also have cars that are beautiful. But there are some customers that, if you want to get there, you have to stand out. You must create something that is not online; maybe not like a car or an everyday product, but that’s exactly the reason. “
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Of course, highlighting seems like a challenge when building an almost indistinguishable range of crossovers of marginally different sizes and then introducing them into a market populated by similarly structured offerings from its competitors. But you don’t necessarily have to surprise or disappoint most of your audience to be remembered, especially when you have a rich heritage of beautiful, high-performance cars that they generally liked. Heel rotation is fully automatic and not easy to understand, at least from the outside.
Dukec continues to miss me even more with his next comment on the 4 Series in particular, the car that has received the most contempt:
“Not all of our products receive the same reviews,” Dukec said. “You can see that in something as polarizing as the Series 4 kidneys, 20% of people like it. That fits the type of customers we’re targeting.
This goes back to a percentage breakdown of how BMW sees its customers, classifying them with demographic labels as “stylish creators” and “expressive performers,” you know, real marketing stuff. But in no dimension can I see 20% approval as a victory. I guess the subtext here is that BMW is looking to present an extremely demanding type of customer who wants to be seen as bold and daring and interesting, a person whose confidence stems from having a huge fool in the front of his luxury sedan . I can’t help but read an air of superiority here as well. If you don’t “understand” it, it’s not “elegant” or “expressive” enough. to be BMW.
Between all this and the passive insults that provoked his most passionate fans on Twitter, every time someone from BMW opens their mouths about design these days it seems like they just go deeper. I really hate being that this boy who comments melancholy how everything was so much better, and I’ve desperately looked for something positive about the frontal treatment of the new 4 and 7 series or the iX, but I can’t find it.
BMW has never seemed to be a brand concerned with attention before, which makes everything so weird. Anyway, he seems to be very concerned about this today and, for the merit of the company’s designers, he has certainly found ways to stand out. Van Hooydonk reflects on the commotion with a favorable turn:
“It simply came to our notice then [if you have fans]. It means you have people who not only buy your products, but love what you do. Of course, if they love what you do, the moment you change it, they may have problems.
Remember: no matter what people say, they only feel disappointed in you because they love you. I think it’s something we could all benefit from taking into account.