Polarising BMW 7 Series grille was a calculated risk, design boss confirms

BMW said it expected a massive backlash to its dominating, graceless 7 Series grille long before it brought it to market.

Admitting he had “noticed” and “been hurt” by the criticism of the enormous grille – which has sparked countless memes on the internet and social media – BMW design chief Adrian van Hooydonk says he understands why both buyers and the design community had been shocked.

“It’s more a 7 Series discussion than anything else and the backlash is more or less the same as we expected,” the Dutch designer said.

“The X7 was launched at the same time and that’s why it’s thrown into that discussion, but the X7 grille is proportional to the size of the vehicle.

“All the cars in that segment are typically quite big.”

In his defence, van Hooydonk insisted the car struck an awkward note because of the original design brief and because of different customer priorities around the world.

The flagship limousine launched this year with most discussions surrounding its grille rather than any technical innovations it might have had.

“The briefing we got was to make sure people understood the difference [between the 7 and the 5 Series] and notice it.

“When we launched the car [the 7 Series] it was quite smaller. The feedback we got on that was that people couldn’t see enough difference to the predecessor.

“On the 7, I understand that people can be shocked. I notice the criticism. I think in a way it’s inevitable. My objective is to do something that everybody likes but it’s not always possible.”

The strongest criticism of the car came from Europe, which, though important, isn’t among the top two biggest markets for the big limousine.

“The 7 has always been the hardest to bring the expectations of the entire world into one shape. The customers are very, very different in China, the US, the Middle East and in Europe,” he said.

“In Europe people don’t want to get noticed. They don’t like being asked what they paid for a car and they like things in black like a stealth mode.

“The rest of the world is the opposite. We tried to give the Europeans what they want as well but the strongest market for the 7 is not Europe.”

He also explained that this confrontational style of design might not be necessary anymore, though not through any new processes or ideas at BMW.

“For the next generation 7 our job will become slightly easier. It’s usually only in the 7 that these tastes are diverging so much.

“But the customer profiles will be less different in five or 10 years. People’s tastes are converging.”

But the beleaguered BMW design boss has had the last laugh on the 7 Series. It’s selling far better than the pre-facelift model did.

“The production has ramped up since the facelift. They’re very happy people at the factory because we’re producing more cars now than before the facelift.”