Niels van Roij about BMW’s newest sedan
After the i Vision Dee – a deliberately reduced design according to BMW to draw attention to the digital experience and the brand DNA – the 5 visually apparently fits nicely between that extremely minimalistic concept and the (i)7 and 3 series. Car designer Niels van Roij about the exterior design of this new generation 5-series. Hope it turns out fine.
The exterior design of the 5 is defined by the three-box saloon design typical of that car, albeit with a very short saloon lid. The car has become a reasonably proportioned, but generic sedan, especially in profile.
Due to the size reduction compared to other extremely pronounced BMW grille graphics, the 5 apparently stands out better than the brutalist XM and iX.
BMW iX: brutalist.
This does not automatically make it a successful design. There are excellent ways to do minimalism, but the question is whether minimalism is the most relevant vision for BMW. A complete recalibration as BMW introduced a few years ago – and which the brand is continuing with the 5 – is clearly not the way forward for a successful premium brand.
BMW i5.
Unwise strategic product decisions pushed into production through poor design strategies have been the beginning of the end for many a car manufacturer. Since BMW is the German style and driver brand, those values must be preserved above all else. BMW Design’s role is to translate that essence into an exterior design that tells exactly that story. Under the right leadership, the BMW design team has proven exceptionally capable in the past. Unfortunately, as with investing, past results are no guarantee for the future.
How it should be? Bangle’s E60 BMW 5 Series
How is it then? The E60 5 Series from Bangle: an unprecedented charismatic design. Agile yet powerful, slim yet muscular, BMW modernity and tradition in perfect harmony. Moreover, the E60 was no fluke. Unparalleled aesthetics through perfect proportions, phenomenal sculpture control from the Flame Surfacing and unsurpassed conceptual depth were typical of BMW under the Bangle years.
The 1-series M Coupe, Mille Miglia Coupe Concept and M1 Concept, but also i3, i8, GINA Concept and Z4 are excellent examples of this, which was already mentioned in the design review of the i Vision Dee. All of these cars share a highly distinctive nose, strong straight shoulder line, confident Hofmeister and sculptural skin, just to name a few essential BMW DNA elements.
BMW has reintroduced a vague hint of a Hofmeister kink for the new 5 – apparently under duress, it was no longer to be found on other recent BMW models. With the best will, there is little BMW-specific design work to do.
Due to the lack of movement and expression in the skin, the surfacing, the 5-series is also rather uninteresting and unemotional when viewed from the side. Optically, it is certainly not the Freude am Fahren identity incarnate that BMW has been ascribing to itself for years.
Above all, a BMW should excite, and not in the way the XM overstimulates. Unfortunately, this 5-series is almost as safe as the sad blobs of Mercedes-Benz.
The new Mercedes-Benz E-Class.
For years, BMW owners were presented with magnificently relevant drawn cars: modern, well-considered, delicate shapes, elegance and expression formed from metal, plastic and glass. The core characteristics of BMW respected, the unique selling points addressed and magnified through design.
The new 5 Series is yet another proof of the lack of the above core qualities and with it the deep misunderstanding of the essence of BMW brand value.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl