Have you ever wondered what a Kia model would look like wearing a BMW double kidney grille and vice-versa?



We know we did when we came up with the foolish idea of photoshopping a BMW front piece on the then new Kia K9 sedan and re-naming it the Kia 9’Series (now called K900 in N.A.) for the New York Auto Show as our 2012 April Fool’s Day hoax.

Fast forward to today, and Theophilus Chin took it a few steps further rendering a number of Kia models with BMW double kidney grilles, an idea that came from a previous post where he grafted a single frame grille to several BMWs and which reminded his readers of the Korean firm’s fascia.

Over the past few years, there’s been no shortage of criticism against Kia’s designs for looking a bit too Bavarian, with the favor returned when BMW revealed the 2-Series Active Tourer (see our post here).

In the automotive world, front grilles are supposed to serve a functional purpose cooling components and feeding air into the engine bay, but in the vast majority of cars, they also play a crucial role in design and brand identity.

So, what’s the verdict about these photoshops?

Renderings via Theophilus Chin (1) & (2)



KIA

BMW