This week BMW unveiled their forthcoming iX, which will roll out next year. This first batch of concept renderings below, of the evocative variety, hinted at a bolder direction:
As the renderings got more specific, we see an increasingly aggressive-looking vehicle with overly complicated surfaces, both inside and out, and right down to the details:
A profile shot of the full-size clay model might've made you think they were reining it back in...
...but a look at the front detailing, and rear quarter, reveals that's not the case:
In the highlight sheets for the car, the car's design looks even busier than the call-outs:
In the studio shots, it looks to me like every 10 centimeters of the car was designed by a different person:
The on-road shots don't change that impression:
This may explain why one of the more robust Core77 discussions--which has been running for years--is called "What is BMW Doing?"
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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BMW's Design Restraint Continues to Go Out the Window
Ew
Plug-ins just do not move me, no matter how fast or teched-up they are. I have more tech than I need in my phone and I don't need to drag race on my way to the store. Those half-ton batteries eventually become toxic waste.
um, a grill on an electric vehicle? why not add an air scoop to the hood
Its always worth remembering that "Less is more" and "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should"
Oh, my, what a disappointment, after seeing the sketches of the stylists.... Wow they did not translate trough at all, looks dumpy and fat like a woodchuck or a beaver, what are those intakes in front of the wheels, looks like a birth defect... are they actually functional?
I don't understand how they decided that the cup holders should be so low and under the console. It looks like they will be a nightmare to use.
What a disgrace. No coherence whatsoever. I would maybe save the arch around the back wheels, the large flat surface has something.