by Michael Gauthier
- BMW’s Neue Klasse design is moving away from big, bold grilles.
- Adrian van Hooydonk said supersized grilles are popular in China.
- The company believes big grilles helped them, more than they hurt.
BMW recently unveiled the iX3 at the Munich Motor Show and it ushers in a Neue Klasse design language, which will eventually spread to other models. This will happen pretty quickly as the company has confirmed the cues will be incorporated into nearly 40 new and facelifted vehicles “between now and 2027.”
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The Neue Klasse design has been largely well-received and it’s notable for featuring an all-new front end with a skinny twin-kidney grille as well as a “horizontal light signature.” This is a significant change and BMW has previously said these elements are designed to recall the 1600 and 2002 from the 60’s and 70’s
Why the big grilles happened
This is pretty much the exact opposite of the supersized grilles that populate the 7-Series, iX, and others. While these have often been mocked, Head of BMW Group Design, Adrian van Hooydonk, has no regrets.
Speaking to CarExpert, the styling guru said big grilles are popular in “certain areas in the world, like China.” He added that “people are still asking for big grilles” and this results in a “tricky situation” for a global brand such as BMW.
Despite being an apparent concession to the Chinese market, van Hooydonk said supersized grilles didn’t get backlash from customers. While he conceded there were some “negative comments,” van Hooydonk said the company “never saw it in the sales figures.” In fact, the designer even suggested big grilles might have actually helped sales.
“There was no backlash from customers,” Hooydonk said. “Indeed, of course, we took note of all the negative comments, but we never saw it in the sales figures. Actually, quite the opposite. So in some way or form, we didn’t feel that we had to react.”
Not gone, just evolving
While massive grilles have been the butt of jokes, van Hooydonk noted they serve a purpose as they can incorporate a multitude of sensors. He also said the company will offer a variety of grille shapes and sizes, implying the era of supersized grilles might not be over.
“On a car [like the iX3]… we felt that this size of grille actually fits quite well,” he told the Australian publication. “Also incorporated in this front-end are more sensors than ever before. Of course, our cars are becoming more and more intelligent. They can drive further autonomously. And so one of the questions that we had to solve in our design is how to incorporate these sensors,” Hooydonk added.
“They are all in this front-end, but you don’t see them. And that was actually also a part of the reasons why the grille had to become highly functional, as it is functional.”
We’re already seeing that play out as the facelifted 7-Series will continue to feature a large grille. However, it also appears to have been toned down a bit.