Back in its day, the first-generation BMW X5 was a controversial new design for the German luxury market. Today, the gaping maw of the 2020 BMW 4 Series is perhaps the most controversial new BMW design in decades.
Unfortunately, the guy was behind the design team for the BMW X5 is Frank Stephenson, who now makes YouTube videos about car design. He took some time to criticize the controversial new 4-series professional:
What I like about Stephenson’s take here is that it’s not the typical reaction to the car, which typically looks great, shocks, or insults, or some combination. It’s taking someone who knows how BMW works, who knows the challenges of designing a new car for a saved motorist, and who – hopefully if he’s still good – has a good grip has about what the future of car design looks like.
Stephenson finds the design of the 4-Series interesting because of how, he claims, it remains recognizable as a BMW product, while remaining with many of BMW’s traditional signature styling and design features.
From the profile view, BMW has removed a strong, crippled shoulder line that was a defining feature of the traditional BMW 3 Series and the later alloy of the 4 Series. He also marks the disappearance of the signature Hofmeister kink form from the back window border.
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There’s also a strange lack of harmony with the cutting line behind the front wheels, which does not align with another drawn line on the car, leaving it (literally) out of the rest of the design. The back is very busy, especially around the outlets in the lower corners of the bumper.
What’s fun, though, is the real pause and hesitation that fucking kidney grilling gives the veteran Stephenson. The man can hardly find words to be careful enough to explain his problems (I think to make sure he was not to simplify as we all want to do), which is very relatable.
Whether you’re open to the idea that the BMW devotes much of its styling work to something, perhaps, softer and more flowing, it’s absolutely not immediately as recognizable as the cars that have come before. At least not yet. If anything, it’s just interesting to look at.
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