It’s fair to say that the new BMW M3/M4 is causing quite the stir with the large ‘orifices’ that seem to be getting everyone talking.
After recently re-listening to a @drivenation_ Podcast, @danpross86 got us thinking when he quoted a comment @frank.stephenson.official had made on a Drive Nation post, about the 4 Series Coupe (our first taste of ‘the nose’):
“The geometric design of the kidney grille clashes with the organic design of the body. I get the feeling that different designers worked on this car and none of them liked or agreed with each other.”
Let’s be honest, the grille is here to stay; so if this geometric design could of flowed out across the whole car, could BMW have created a more cohesive design language. Could it even have been…love at first sight?….gasp!
Although we’re all used to BMW creating smooth, organic designs; coupled with aggressive fins, angles and vents on the M3/M4 – a ‘geometric’ design focus isn’t exactly alien to BMW.
For us, there are two concept cars BMW created recently that do focus on a ‘geometric’ design language and could have been a taste of what was to come; The 2002 Turbo Hommage and the 3.0 CSL Hommage. Although there was some small muttering about the grilles at the time (mainly with the CSL concept), they did not dominate discussions. It’s taken us a while to understand why the aforementioned concepts seemed to have a better balance, even though the grilles were present and it’s finally clicked.
They say that a Zebra is a horse designed by committee, has BMW let committee effect their thoroughbred? What do you think?
