It’s no secret that BMW, along with a lot of other luxury (see: German) brands, is moving toward massive new grilles. The BMW X7 and 7 Series LCI were the cars to get the ball rolling and then the Concept 4 started the controversy. Now, it seems that every car enthusiast wants to mock BMW’s new grille design. While we don’t think it’s going to be as bad as many enthusiasts fear, it’s hard to blame anyone for poking fun. The latest critique of this new trend of massive grilles actually comes from another brand — Jaguar.
During a recent interview with Car Throttle, Jaguar head of design Julian Thompson said that the famed British brand isn’t going to follow the big grille trend. It’s a trend Thompson equates to brands overreacting to the Chinese market. According to Thompson, first and second-generation Chinese car customers are unaware of most brands, so luxury brands want to emphasize their image but it’s gone too far.
“China’s a first generation of car owners, or second-generation now, and they have been quite brand obsessed, [but] not knowing what brand was what,” he said. “So a lot of manufacturers have reacted to this by doing very strong faces on their cars, just to get known”.
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While that makes sense, Thompson doesn’t like where it’s going. “I feel some of our competitors have gone really overboard in trying to overemphasize the brand, the face of the car, and in a fairly crude manner in a lot of cases”. In fact, he calls this trend of adding monster grilles “torture” for the car’s design, saying that these brands are “doing faces only a mother could love”.
Jaguar has the walk to back up the talk. There isn’t a bad looking Jag on the road at the moment. Each and every model in the Jaguar lineup is great looking. Maybe the big-grille-trending brands should follow Jag’s lead and make prettier designs, rather than just making bigger, brasher designs for extra attention.
Should BMW actually make its Kidney Grille wider, not taller?
[Source: Car Throttle]
Jaguar: “We hate big grills, so we put a massive grill on the electric only iPace, which doesn’t even need a fucking grill! …. so the Chinese will buy it.
Also, we put fake bonnet vents on nearly all of our cars, but BMW are cheap and trying too hard.”
If only your actual design language reflected your opinions….
^ this
The Jaguar grille is already among the largest… not sure what the guy is yeaht talking about.
i find it odd everyone makes fun of BMW new large grille design. even with the latest 4/M3/M4 increase it’s just putting them on par with the other brands. audi grill is massive and mb grills are up there too.
… let’s not forget bmw used to have cars that were all grill in the past
Thing is though Jag’s grille does not split opinion at all(I though would have liked to have seen the Jag head back on the bonnet however) and i think most would agree that Jag do not have an ugly car on the road, all of their designs of late are ageing very well….unlike alot of their interiors.
Totally agree on your last point.
A G20 driver.
Or maybe Jaguar just gave the ipace it’s corporate face.
He is absolutely correct. BMW is a mess in terms of the new direction of designing its cars.
Because their current design chief has only been with the co. 3 decades & designed the Bangle butt 645i & 745i, so BMW is a mess in terms of the new direction of designing it’s cars ever since, so most of this century, why they’ve only been able to double volume.
Make as many excuses as you like, put them together with $3, & it’ll get you a coffee. Status symbols become jokes when they’re also ugly AF.
Design is subjective, the Greeks knew in 3 BC beauty is in the eye of the beholder, while the Internet has yet to figure it out.
To blame BMW’s bad design on the Chinese taste seems a bit irresponsible. The middle and upper class Chinese are indeed brand-obsessed, but are plenty aware of brand names. Also, they are no more brand obsessed than their Western counterparts.
He’s not being disrespectful. The Chinese automotive market really only started to explode within the past couple of decades. So brand cache isn’t nearly as big in China as it is in other markets that have had these brands for far, far longer. Also, he’s not the only brand exec that’s spoken about the Chinese market’s love for bold, big designs.
I like the Jaguar though, not out of place.
Who cares about them?! Their cars look just plain boring. No one knows if they can even survive.
No matter what his opinion is, the chinese market is the most important one. It’s the biggest, it’s the most growing and it’s the most profitable. To ignore the wants and needs of these customers, no matter what they might be, would be irresponsible and dumb. You can basically go bankrupt directly.
BMWs sales succes (especially) there, but also all over the world is telling the truth. People like their design, there’s not a single doubt about it!
yeah no manufacturer could make a profit before the chinese market existed for them, and they would go bankrupt … ho wait
Before?! Who cares. We have 2020 now. And until 2025 the possible customer base for premium cars will be 6 times as high in China. So if you ignore this, you won’t survive. As simple as that.
Or how will you invest in all that necessary stuff, if you don’t earn enough money?! American leasers and European small car buyers will not really help, not even talking about the stupid EU emission rules.
You apparently have no clue about the industry at the moment…
You must work for BMW, being that willing to excuse the ugliness in the name of profit..
Anyone who can afford to own a new BMW are more interested in the new M3 500+ h.p. turbo I6>”grille”.
I would describe the new 4 series front end as a combination of Jaguar headlights, Audi single frame grille and Bmw XXL truck nose.
Have you seen the new 4 series?
I was refering to the 4 series concept at 12 O’clock high, which I think has a better looking front end than the 4 series leak.
Jaguar won’t be the last to take a shot at this ugly POS.
Until they all start doing it!
I’ll put up my 2009 328i hardtop convertible up against any Jaguar with the exception of the early XKE’s from the ’60’s.
I assume you’re referring to it’s styling? If so, there’s one BIG thing about your BMW’s styling that majorly turned me off. It’s the gap between the door and the rocker panel and how it flows (or doesn’t flow) into the panel gap behind the door. If they ran that panel gap in line with the door gap (like they did in the next generation/4 series), it would look 1000x better in my opinion. While I always lean towards coupes, I’d take the sedan over the coupe of this generation any day because I couldn’t tolerate seeing that awful panel gap every day. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/76a90240ac5978cc6373428381f730093b4a20ab1d1ec0fba2c91ce5eeee5ea5.jpg
In your defense, the Jaguar XK8 convertible has the same problem, but they at least put that panel gap a little higher up so it doesn’t look like a failed attempt to make it flow with the bottom of the door. Neither is ideal and I’m glad both manufactures have gone away with such in un-elegant design. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0753111e5858302445a06637db858df629edf4f72fb773acdd6d9bf5968dc855.jpg
there could be 2 or 3 different bumper/grille designs to fit with each big market ?
If only they implemented that.
If China want’s ugly give it to them, but don’t punish us all.
different aero, new crash tests, new pollution tests, etc … big costs would be involved
yeah same as suv hystery, is it so Jaguar?
1959 Jaguar Mark IX – Jaguar clearly dont like bigger grills https://st3.depositphotos.com/16173130/18939/i/1600/depositphotos_189398384-stock-photo-ahmedabad-gujarat-india-june-2017.jpg
New mer- bens E63 AMG arrived new pics 👇 https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8a499e7ab85bd05d2ebdc34bf9c9c3884b967683c5b81cf54d3b82c3497c5c94.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ecb2c1e6451a4ee30349ed9672f3168589c1ebff2eb67825c280ec2f7f70d75a.jpg
It’s horrible, looks like the front of the old Routemaster London bus, especially in red !!.
Really? The Head of Design at Jaguar has the audacity to take a pot shot at BMW (or any auto maker’s for that matter) design. With the exception of the F-Type (which need a good refresh) their cars have the design equivalent of of paper bag! He may want to fix his own house instead of worrying what’s coming out of ANY others.
Show me one ugly jaguar made in the last 15 years. I know that beauty is subject to opinion, but I think most agree that Jaguar makes beautiful cars, inside and out. The like to dislike ratio on your comment seems to support my theory.
Those grilles are so ugly they make ugly people look good.
Looks like A Ford Grand Torino Grille 🙄
The grills do not go with the lights.There is is nothing harmonious about it.
BMW no longer wants harmonious, beautiful or timeless elegance in their products. They’re after the most social media clicks and high-volume SEO, nevermind if it’s negative – stand your ground, even if it bleeds the core heritage of the brand. The mandate is to sell whatever they think the masses want, double-down, then go all-in.
This is analogous to that ubiquitous teenager in every high school class that is confused about self-identity and struggles in the face of change. The symptoms often manifest with outrageous attempts to claw their way to perceived relevance.
Says the bastage that thinks a ford fusion with some new plastic passes for a luxury sedan
Oh for God’s sake, it’s the UGLIEST front end in history and anyone that says otherwise is just a LEMMING.
This actually looks better than the lemming. Also most typists.
Lemmings merely leap off of the same cliff that BMW does and quietly fade into obscurity.
The brand zealots are worse, they scream, shout and try to convince the rest of the world that we’re wrong for not wanting to leap – as they march towards a self-induced and hilarious end.
This comment is, to say the least, ironic. 1st BMW 328 inspired XK-120 Jag, originally intended only as a show car to display Jaguar’s also similar I6. So it was a BMW that changed the course & history of Jaguar design. Nowadays they are owned by an Indian corporation (reverse colonialism) who have already signed on with BMW for BEV engineering R&D, BMW are likely to continue having just as much influence on their designs, who was the 1st to do SUVs?
JLR ;-)
as in… Range Rover
Which BMW also redesigned & powered when they owned them, B4 selling to Ford.
Wow! That grille is terrible. At first, I thought it was a photoshop images making fun of the gigantor BMW grilles, but it’s actually the real BMW grill. It looks like somebody tried to put a giant Rolls Royce grill on a Toyota Tercel. It looks ridiculous.
Gaping wound is the new grill.
Jaguar needs to design an engine that doesn’t need to be taken in for repair every 500 miles before bashing BMW.
Jag’s are like a mannequin. It may look attractive sitting in the window, but underneath the dressing it’s not functional.
My grandparents have 160,000 miles on their Jaguar XJ8L and they have had very minimal issues with it. They have trusted that car to drive them across the country and back many times now.
Audi started the big grill trend with the more main stream brands in the early 2000s, with exception to Rolls Royce, Audi to date has been the only one whose big grills have aged gracefully and look good.
Most automakers have huge grilles these days. The trend has been going on for a long time
I’ve already become accustomed to the giant grille on the 4 concept. Can’t wait to upgrade to G82.
I actually like the design of the BMW front end.
2018 BMW Sales in China 465,000, 2.1 million worldwide
2018 Jaguar Sales in China 27,000, 180,000 worldwide
Yeah, BMW should be taking advice from Jaguar…:) If people don’t like the car, don’t buy it, simple
Of course! Big company :D:D