There is one thing that bothers me, EnI.

What is the primilary aim of the design for a car? Making a statement with big words and big concepts? Using some cool names as "flame surfacing"?
Or just making a wonderful car that looks good without explanation? A car that has a lot of emotion and appeal?

I'm sorry, I don't buy it. Revolution every two gens, what does that mean? You have gen. 1 (horrible unrefined design experiment that everybody is happy to see disappear) and gen. 2 (watered down, more refined version of the gen. 1 lacking any sense of occasion and with a déjà-vu feeling to it)?

Is this how you see BMW's future?

How come it wasn't like that before? How come no other carmaker sees things like that?

I'm sorry, you don't need to shock everybody to introduce a new design. You can shcock everybody with a CONCEPT CAR announcing the future, but then you make a GOOD-LOOKING PRODUCTION VERSION of it.

For me, your "gen.1" is a concept car, and you should jump to "gen.2" for your production version.

A designer shouldn't release a half-finished design.

And you can renew your design without shocking the customers. This is what everybody does.

(of course, my statement here is a bit exaggerated to make you understand what I mean. See it as a "gen.1" statement, quite unrefined and excessive )

What I forgot to mention is this:

Beside the introducing new avant-garde styling, the main point of BMW design revolution was to individualize the car designs.

Till then all the BMW models were too look-alike, lacking individual personality / design.

The design revolution changed that - that was the design revolution. Making the specific models more individual (as much as possible), while maintaining family resemblance.

The statement was also revolutionary, the shift in corporate culture. Putting design on pedestal again. And, yes - there was also a styling revolution (introducing flame surfacing, eyebrows etc). But mind the essential MW design features were preserved (typical BMW proportions, Hofmeister's kink, quad round headlights, L-shaped tail lights etc). Only shark-like nose & driver-oriented dash were lost - but are now being reintroduced again.

Yes, execution of some designs was a bit clumsy in some cases. Even AVH admitted that once. But the flair was lost on the way to the production. Compromises have been made, and the result was a bit questionably sometimes. Which tells us the cooperation between designers & engineers was not working as it should have.

But BMW took a risk, and launched the new designs anyway. And it payed off.


*****

"Revolution after 2nd generation"

That means the tooling is set, and shifting from eg. flame surfacing to some other styling theme would be too costly. Therefore it is more economical to change tooling (& the styling theme) after second generation - so eg. after 12 years, not after 6.

Mind 7-series is a model the least integrated in the current design theme. The car lacks proper flame surfacing, proper design trademarks etc. FL was just an add-on job. Adding a bit more sculptured hood, more pointed / triangular headlights, L-shaped tail lights etc. But the rest of the design stayed the same.

F01 will introduced a proper L-shaped tail lights, proper pointed triangular headlights, proper flame surfacing, proper contemporary BMW interior design. And since E65 was revolutionary, F01 will work on the same platform - updating the styling to fit more into the family design, introducing some new design features, and bringing back some old & forgotten ones.

Eg. X5 E70 is evolutionary (kind a E53 in flame surfaced clothes) since it is 2nd generation only. Same can be said for upcoming E89 Z4, F13 6er, F10 5er, new 1er, new X3.

The only car that is already evolutionary in this generation is ... 3-series. Which make me believe the next generation will be more revolutionary again.

All the other models will be evolutionary.

There's nothing that can really be said that would vindicate BMW, Bangle and van Hooydonk's stylistic direction and design language over these last 8 years. Opinion on this matter is so polarised that debate around this is inevitably circular and inconclusive. But, one has to appreciate BMW's achievement since the leap of faith taken in the early years of the new millenium.

BMW had to move its game on - at its own behest and at its own risk - in order to transform the way the consumer looked at car styling. It was a calculated gamble and it paid off because, whilst BMW styling was never all things to all men (read: universally appealing), it ushered in a new era of instantly identifiable (as being nothing other than) BMWs.

Like them or not, BMWs have a remarkably recognisable corporate persona in spite of some drastically differently styled models. The brand is practically bulletproof and this is thanks to a really ballsy move in terms of styling direction.

We're seeing a slow-down in this strategy; a consolidation and a palpable nurturing maturation of BMW's design direction. The core identity and image will remain I expect yet, pragmatically conceived as less controversial and less polarising. It's now time for BMW to reap the rewards of the styling risks taken, and, with this momentum and a much vaster creative palate than any other manufacturer, safeguard their reputation as the world's leading-edge of automotive design.