BMW’s era of oversized kidney grilles might be winding down — and the reason behind that shift, according to the company’s design chief, has a lot to
BMW’s era of oversized kidney grilles might be winding down — and the reason behind that shift, according to the company’s design chief, has a lot to do with China.
With the upcoming Neue Klasse models on the way, BMW seems poised to dial back some of its more extreme styling choices — including the gargantuan grilles that have drawn praise and criticism in equal measure. While design elements like bold wheel arches and aggressive bumpers may live on, the grille size appears to be one of the first to be toned down.
When pressed about whether BMW had gone overboard with grille design in recent years, Adrian van Hooydonk, BMW’s Group Design Director, offered a nuanced defense. He argued that design is not one-size-fits-all — and that regional preferences matter. In markets like China, he explained, customers still show a strong appetite for large, bold front ends.
According to van Hooydonk, BMW did take note of the backlash over grille appearances on models such as the M3, 7 Series, and XM — yet sales data never supported the criticism. In fact, he claims the opposite was true: customers bought them in strong numbers. “We never saw it in the sales figures,” he said. “Actually, quite the opposite.”
Still, BMW seems to believe that continuing to push the envelope might be riskier than stepping back. Van Hooydonk described a sense of urgency: the risk of not changing enough, in his words, would be far greater than changing too much. Thus, the Neue Klasse design direction may represent a more tempered, globally palatable aesthetic.
For critics, van Hooydonk’s remarks are a mixed bag. One could interpret them as blaming Chinese tastes for BMW’s boldest grille experiments. But a closer look at China’s auto market shows a more complex picture: while some brands do favor bold front-end statements, others lean on sleekness and stylized lighting signatures — traits that resonate globally as well.
Whether BMW’s stylistic reset pays off remains to be seen. But the shift suggests that the “big grille era” may be winding toward its final act — even if it was once embraced (or at least accepted) by consumers around the world.
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