https://www.thedrive.com/news/bmws-d...his-fix-things

BMW is making big changes in its design department. Depending on how you feel about the brand’s recent design choices, that could be a very good thing—especially since the Bavarians are getting some very talented help from other automakers. However, the biggest change happens near the top. While Adrian van Hooydonk remains the design director for the entire BMW Group—which includes BMW, Rolls-Royce, and Mini—BMW’s head of design Domagoj Dukec is moving over to Rolls-Royce.

Dukec’s previous responsibilities will now be shared by two people: Maximilian Missoni and Oliver Heilmer. Missoni comes from Polestar, where he spent the last six years as the brand’s head of design. Before that, he was at Volvo for almost nine years, leading the brand’s exterior design. He’s going to be in charge of BMW’s mid-class and luxury cars, as well as Alpinas. Essentially, Missoni will handle everything from the 5 Series and up. Considering that Volvo has made some of the sharpest-looking cars on the market in recent years, this is likely great news for BMW customers.
BMWHeilmer will be a familiar name for BMW fans as he’s been Mini’s design leader since 2017. Now, he’ll lead BMW’s more entry-level models, such as the 2 Series, 3 Series, X1, and X2.

Most of BMW’s future interiors will be the work of Claudia Braun, who’s been BMW’s head of color and material design. Before that, she held the same position at Rivian, Volvo, Polestar, and Mercedes.

Another interesting hire, or should I say re-hire, is the return of Anders Warming, who steps aside as Rolls-Royce’s design director. Warming was previously part of the BMW design team under Chris Bangle and was responsible for the E85-generation Z4, one of my favorite modern BMW designs. Then he did his own thing with his own firm before going to Rolls-Royce. Now, Warming will be in charge of BMW’s Advanced Design and Designworks teams, which are responsible for many of BMW’s concept cars and design technologies.
BMWLet me put a fine point on all this info: It might mean the end of massive, absurd kidney grilles on BMWs. The controversial details on cars like the BMW X7, M3, 7 Series, and XM all came under Dukec. With BMW’s upcoming Neue Klasse designs showing promise, it has a good team of talented people with a recent history of making good-looking cars to lead the way.

 

All cars are designed around 5 years in advance so it's highly doubtful we'll be seeing any major changes in direction for at least that long.

 

Interesting. I like Volvos design quite a lot so this should be a good thing

 

@FrankReynoldsCPA

are sales up, flat or declining right now? CR and JD reports are good, so the quality is there.

 

We likely won't see the effects of the new design team until 2030 according to bmwblog.

 

IMO a full redesign isn't the core issue, most of their vehicles are reasonably attractive at a minimum, it's just that terrible awful bucktooth front grill. That can be fixed easily with some insight into what the next design language will be, and a mid year facelift. No need to wait 5 years for that

As they say "first apply pressure, stop the bleeding" Then work on the rest.

 

That's something they can fix TODAY. Lol

 

Very happy to hear this news.
Domagoj Dukec is one of the worst designers and completely ruined the BMW heritage styling cues. There has not been even 1 decent design under his tenure.
I like the Volvo designs and hopefully BMW will go back to clean traditional designs without stupid gimmicks like the pig nose grill.

Too bad for Rolls Royce though.

 

Sales of cars were up in 2023 over 2022. CUV's were down slightly. The 4 series is probably the thing to look at here. Unlike it's sibling, the 3, all models are afflicted with the beaver tooth grille. Yet it sales jumped.

I think the general public is okay with the BMW design language, but us enthusiasts are less than thrilled.

 

Basically, I lost interest in BMW when they did three things....started using lighter/thinner materials in their vehicles and lost that vault-like feeling, adopted the Chris Bangle styling-changes and I-Drive, and dumped the superb hydraulic power steering (IMO the best steering in the auto industry at that time) for the electric-boost. They have never been the same since.

 

I think they still have a few with decent/good looking. IMO what keeps consumers staying with BMWs is how it drives/feels. So the exterior design becomes less a factor. In addition, their options are probably most reasonable.

 

Before we decided on another X3 we took a serious look at the 4 Series Grand Coupe (liftback). We probably would have bought one but just couldn't get past the grill. For my wife it was a hard NO, and I was on the fence. Otherwise, it met all of our needs.

 

When I make some "touch up" to the exterior, my wife often says, "why doing that? You're not going to see them when you drive." Lol. You could have gotten an X5. It's a step up from X3 in all aspects IMO. The LCI looked odd to my eyes at the beginning but now I think it looks nice. And it makes the pre LCI outdated. On top of it, the added HP is nice. Some other things are not good compared to pre LCI but overall it's an improvement IMO. Still best bang for the bucks.

 

I agree. I really like the M2 even though it's very polarizing on here.

Obviously the beaver teeth grille never should have been approved.

 

From this angle it looks really nice. If I wasn't a soccer dad, I would have gone with this instead of the X3.