Featuring significantly larger kidney grilles, the BMW X7 started a new bold direction for the Bavarian carmaker. This was carried over to the BMW Concept 4 and will seemingly be applied to the new BMW 4 Series, M4, and M3 to make them stand out from the regular 3 Series. Not everyone is happy with these styling changes, but BMW has been defending the new design direction, insisting that design language needs to evolve to stay competitive.



In a new interview with Autocar, BMW product boss Peter Henrich is "convinced" BMW's bold styling direction led by design boss Adrian van Hooydonk was the right way to go. Despite receiving some backlash, customer data has also shown the new styling is being well received. "This is crucial for success," said Henrich. "BMW customers are demanding. They want to express something and are not afraid of vehicles with strong characters. They are looking for it. So we have decided to focus even more on strong characters and bold design."