It’s no secret that the latest BMW models have not been well received everywhere, and the company has responded to criticism in uncharacteristic and outraged ways. There are many cars that could be described as visually polarizing, but the constant defense of the BMW, while rejecting critics as “boomers” even though many of its customers are actually boomers, it was a strange and fascinating drama to watch on social media.
In his latest defense, BMW chief designers Adrian van Hooydonk and Domagoj Dukec spoke Top Gear in an attempt to minimize, but also to greet simultaneously, the reaction. To be honest, there is nothing explicitly wrong in most of what van Hooydonk and Dukec say here. Many fall into the territory of “you can’t please everyone ¯ _ (ツ) _ / ¯”.
Honestly, if you were in their position, what else could you really say? Especially when “Yeah, we’re kind of disappointed in that, aren’t we?” it is not actually an option.
However, Dukec’s reasoning is not particularly convincing, as it is based on this formless and unspecified desire to “stand out”.
“You can create something beautiful and we also have cars that are just nice. But there are some clients that you need to stand out if you want to reach. You need to create something that is not in line; maybe not as an everyday car or an everyday product, but that’s exactly why. ”
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Of course, standing out seems like a challenge when you build a range of almost indistinguishable crossovers of marginally different sizes, and then introduce them to a market populated by similarly structured offerings from your competitors. But you don’t have to shock or disappoint most of the audience to be remembered, especially when you have a rich heritage of beautiful and high-performance cars, which were generally very popular. The return of the heel is totally self-required and not easy to understand, at least from the outside.
Dukec continues to lose me further with his next comment about the 4 Series in particular, the car that received the most contempt:
“Not all of our products receive the same criticism,” Dukec said. “You can see that in something as polarizing as the kidneys in the 4 Series, 20% of people like it. This suits the type of customers we target.
This goes back to a percentage breakdown of how BMW sees its customers, classifying them with demographic labels as “stylish creators” and “performing artists” – you know, real marketing stuff. But in no dimension can I see a 20% approval rating as a gain. I guess the subtext here is that BMW is looking to appeal to an extremely discerning type of customer who wants to be seen as bold, bold and interesting, a person whose confidence is derived from having a schnoz humor on the front of the luxury sedan. I can’t help but read here an air of superiority. If you don’t “understand”, you’re not “elegant” or “expressive” enough be BMW.
Between all this and the passive insults of his most passionate fans on Twitter, every time someone from BMW opens their mouths about design nowadays, it seems to deepen. I really hate being that guy who boldly remarks how everything was much better and I desperately looked for something positive to say about the front-end treatment for the new 4 and 7 or iX series – but I can’t find it.
BMW has never seemed to be a attention-grabbing brand until now, which makes everything so weird. However, he seems to be very concerned about this today and, thanks to the company’s designers, he has certainly found ways to stand out. Van Hooydonk reflects on the revolts with a favorable rotation:
“It’s really fantastic [if you have fans]. It means that you have people who not only buy your products, but love what you do. Of course, if they like what you’re doing, the moment you change it, they might have problems.
Remember: no matter what people say, they are disappointed in you just because they love you. That’s something I think we could all benefit from taking to heart.