Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, which is a challenge for global automakers who have to appease beholders in disparate markets. A good deal of BMW’s success in the second half of the 20th century can be assigned to American exec Bob Lutz, whose free-wielding of opinions has given him something of an exaggerated and almost mythical stature. He beholds that BMW’s current design is too much.
This isn’t to say that Bob Lutz is always right, but so long as I’m running The Morning Dump, I will always entertain his ideas about the world. In a bit of interesting timing, it’s actually Mercedes that has fired its design chief. I support this.
Would you like two pieces of conflicting information? A California judge may stop Tesla from selling cars in the state. Also, Tesla’s stock just hit a record. And, finally, Ford has modified another battery deal.
‘I Kind Of Hate The Lights, I Kind Of Hate The Grill’
I probably should have mentioned before that regular contributor and longtime pal Travis Okulski has taken the big job of leading all editorial over at the BMW Car Club Of America, which includes running Roundel and BimmerLife. Congrats, buddy! Hopefully, we’ll find some fun ways to work together as the BMWCCA is a great organization, and, as a rule, every other Autopian writer has to have some sort of potentially doomed BMW project.
Travis has a new issue of Roundel coming out, and it’ll celebrate 50 years of the E24 6-Series. As part of his conversation with Bob Lutz, Travis got this great quote:
I think BMW, right now, has a serious design problem. I think some of the front ends are atrocious. Too prominent, that steam punk look to some of the front ends that look like big octagonal cast iron plates riveted to the car. It’s atrocious. I mean, the proportions are wrong, the lines are wrong, the detailing is wrong. I think some of them are just beyond ugly, and frankly, are being bought because people expect a premium automobile, and they say, Well, okay, I kind of hate the front end. I kind of hate the lights, and I kind of hate the grill, and I kind of hate the overall proportions, but it is a BMW. Somebody told me Chinese buyers like that stuff. I find that hard to believe.
The BMW XM feels wrong to me, and the BMW iX is either attractive or ungainly, depending entirely on the color combination you choose. I like the new 5-Series, and the i4 is cool. Do I think the new iX3 is “elegant” as Travis contends? Unsure, but I do think in base trim it’s a successful design.
Lutz was so instrumental in growing BMW that Max Hoffman jokingly (or not so jokingly) threatened to have him killed. So his opinion matters!
As an E39 owner, I do think that the late ’90s is the peak of BMW Design Mountain, but I also believe it’s a bad idea for carmakers to be too wedded to the past. The new 3-Series is going to be key to what the brand can achieve from a design perspective.
Mercedes Kicks Out Its Design Chief: Report
Say what you will about the tenets of BMW’s modern design, but at least there’s an ethos. In some ways, modern Mercedes design is nihilistic. The guy behind it has been Gorden Wagener (pictured here with A$AP Rocky at SXSW, which, though I appreciate Mr. Rihanna, is a reminder of why I don’t go to SXSW anymore).
No longer! According to Bloomberg, he’s been “ousted” and replaced with Bastian Baudy, design head of AMG. There’s an interesting tidbit here from that report:
Born in Essen, Germany, Wagener has served as Mercedes-Benz’s chief designer since 2016. He joined the company in 1997 and worked under longtime design chief Bruno Sacco, the architect of the brand’s classic, long and lean aesthetic. Wagener later broke from that tradition with his “Sensual Purity” philosophy, favoring more sculptural, rounded forms.
While the shift helped broaden Mercedes’s appeal, later EV models such as the EQS and EQE drew criticism for their bowed, aerodynamic profiles. His responsibilities also extended well beyond automobiles, overseeing design projects ranging from helicopters and luxury yachts to the Mercedes-Benz Places residential towers rising in Dubai and Miami.
All the EQS cars are visual disasters, so if someone had to go, it makes sense that it’s Wagener.
Tesla Might Not Be Able To Sell Cars In CA/Hits Record Stock Price
A California judge ruled that Tesla’s marketing around “Autopliot” and “Full Self-Driving” was flawed because they aren’t self-driving, nor are they providing actual autopilot. The potential penalty for this, via CNBC, is potentially quite strict:
If the marketing issues aren’t resolved within a 60-day window, the DMV will move ahead with a 30-day suspension of Tesla’s license to sell cars in the state, the agency said in a statement. However, Gordon said, the DMV will stay the judge’s order for a suspension of Tesla’s manufacturing license, so there will be no interruption to the company’s factory operations in the state.
Seems like this is resolvable, maybe, although can you imagine what happened to the stock price? It hit a record. Here’s Bloomberg‘s explanation:
The optimism centers around Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk’s aspiration to turn Tesla into a powerhouse in robotics and AI, the booming technology that has driven global stocks to record highs. The company’s push into autonomous vehicles has drawn praise from analysts, with some saying Tesla will be a “game changer” in this field.
“Tesla is showcasing that they are close to monetizing on AI,” said Moritz Kronenberger, a portfolio manager at Union Investment, in part pointing to the company’s ambitions to make robots and self-driving taxis. “With the newly announced narratives, it has become more and more a potential AI winner.”
The stock price and actual earnings are so divorced from reality at this point, I’m not surprised.
Ford Is Pivoting Into Energy Storage, Ditching Battery Capacity
I mentioned yesterday that Ford was taking a $20 billion write-down on its EV plans, but forgot to say that the company was also going to use some of its battery production capacity it was building to create an energy storage system business.
This seems sensible to me. Whatever you think of AI, I’m troubled by the idea that we’re suddenly going to build out all of this expensive electricity supply for a potential bubble. Instead, what if we worked on the demand side and helped to improve load conditions through things like battery storage? Seems like a win, even if the expected AI conditions don’t end up materializing.
Ford, as a company, is still active in Europe and had plans to build way more EVs there. Those plans have been modified, meaning it no longer needs the batteries from LG Energy. How big a hit is that to LG’s business?
The Korea Economic Daily has the number:
The South Korean battery maker said the canceled contract, valued at about 9.6 trillion won ($6.5 billion), covered battery cell and module supplies scheduled from 2027 to 2032 and accounted for about 28.5% of its latest annual revenue.
“The termination follows the counterparty’s decision to halt production of certain EV models due to changes in the policy environment and shifting demand outlook for electric vehicles,” LG Energy said in a regulatory filing.
Yikes.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
This is a pro-Wynne organization, and this new track “The British Are Coming” is hilarious. Rapping is hard enough, but then switching into a British accent that’s worthy of Slick Rick on the drop of a beat is next-level hilarious. Also, “I put the red dot on him like Japan” is fantastic.
The Big Question
What’s the best-looking BMW of all time?
Top graphic images: BMW; Classic Car Club Manhattan via YouTube screenshot
Bob Lutz is right.
IMO the last gen BMW stuff was peak design. The F30/80, G30/F90, F22/F87 etc all look incredible. I still shop F30 340i with a manual, and I’m mad I passed on the two I test drove.
BMW Exec: Sir, I thought you should hear what Bob Lutz said.
BMW President: I hope this is worth interrupting my lunch.
BMW Exec: He said our cars are ugly.
BMW President: What does he know?! Now go fetch me some more onion rings to put on top of my Kimchi & Durian sandwich and don’t get any on the shag carpet. Oh, and check and see if my new “Best of Slim Whitman” CD came in. Say, why don’t you drop by this weekend and we’ll catch up on the the absolute best James Bond movies with George Lazenby. And go ahead and put a few bucks on the Dallas Cowboys for me. I think this is gonna be their year.
The moment my eyes were graced by the E60 M5 in Gran Turismo 4 when I was 7, it has never stopped being my favorite BMW and no amount of Chris Bangle hate will change my mind
BMW 507 is the best looking, hands down. I’m also quite partial to the 90’s 840 and 850, but none of those have the “muscular sleeper-sedan” ethos that seems to define BMW as a company more
M1, E30 M3, 2002, i8, Z3, and Z8 are some of my favorites. I get those are all their sporty or rare cars. For their daily drivers any from their “shark nose” era are better looking than the naked mole-rat era.
Yo, Bob – maybe those Bimmers would look better upside down?
They wouldn’t look better if you killed them with fire. But I always appreciate a chance so see that shot again.
Only Bob Lutz could own a situation like that.
I like the X1. I don’t hate the new X3, though I really like the previous one. Some of the sedans are still good, specifically the 2 and the 3 (the funfer has gone full accord vibes, while the siebener is actually actively ugly).
The schocker was when we were looking for an SUV, and my father in law recommended Lexus. Me and wife had never mentioned it between us, yet we looked at each other and went….. EW. Talk about tortured ugly.
X1 is a tall hatchback. I don’t dislike it either. But it’s an anti-Tardis inside, so much smaller than it should be.
That the Lexus looks worse doesn’t mean the current crop of BMWs look good.
I agree
It’s like comparing dog butts to cat butts.
Those are two separate things. Me thinks both ugly. Is one better than the other? I guess I will leave that to you. This guy doesn’t have money for either. Or any new car these days. Because they are all ridiculously over priced.
I’ll take some of that copium, sir. Must be delicious.
I’m beginning to think Tesla doesn’t pay dividends – it just distributes hallucinogens to its stockholders.
Wait is this a real thing? My hallucinogen supplier went away for a 4-6 stint.
The E9 isn’t just the best-looking BMW, but one of the most beautiful saloons of all time, in my opinion. In plain trim, without any air dams, wings or graphics, it’s just spectacular to look at.
I think the 850CSi ties with the Z8 for the prettiest Bimmer after impact bumpers, but they just don’t look that much like BMWs, so I’d say they’re too distinctive to be the benchmark (and we can’t make pop-up headlights anymore).
The E39 is probably the best example of great BMW styling with a plastic bumper cover, and is the thread they should have kept pulling at rather than whatever they ended up doing.
The headline could easily read “Ex-BMW Exec Bob Lutz Has Functioning Eyes, Brain”
Apparently no one at BMW does.
Because apparently people think that he’s an old guy, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about anymore. He had so many hits and awesome concepts. As an old guy I take offense. Good design is timeless. Fashion is a thing, and fashion goes out of style.
Good!
With the possible exception of the E-Class and GLE Mercedes-Benz has mostly lost the plot. Right around 2010 they were firing on all cylinders: A bit busy but looked good, interiors were nice again, generally handsome shapes, great engines.
The upcoming GLB looks like it’s for someone who is the fifth owner in four years, bought it at a Buy Here Pay Here lot, works at Arby’s and is a gravity bong enthusiast.
The bar Sacco set was extremely high, but an MB of 15-years ago would be welcomed.
The one where the grill is shifted down, to make room for a 5mm wide lightstrip? It’s kind of amazing how a relatively small change looks THAT bad. It’s so awkward looking now.
If you’re talking about the GLB, it’s more about the neon lava lamp interior, festooned with LCD displays and backlit 3-pointed stars on every surface.
2027 Mercedes-Benz GLB Interior
Plus the entire grille is now full of tiny backlit 3-pointed stars.
2027 Mercedes-Benz GLB Front Grille
Fired the design chief? I hope he was. From a cannon. Into the sun.
Rather than working to change the “Strip Joint ™” interior, they doubled down. It’s breathtakingly bad.
Yet it sells for one reason: It’s a Mercedes, that meets buyers’ packaging requirements, with a LOWER PRICE than a Toyota Highlander.
Very much appeals to the aspirational crowd, even though I can’t imagine how beat to hell they’ll all be in 10 years, while the Toyota’ll still be good.
I think new Honda Civics are hideous for the same reason as all new BMWs. “Big octagonal cast iron plates riveted to the car” describes both well. E39 was peak BMW, and early 2000’s was peak Civic. I guess Chinese people like them.
Gen10 Civics are peak Honda styling. Unapologetic.
Gen 11 Civics are weak. It showed that Honda are, at heart, won’t commit to something.
Good job. Another one blaming Chinese. US buyers don’t care so what’s your point? US buyers will buy anything shoved at them with a particular brand? If so then that’s true. Who’s fault is that?
STONKS!
Frankly, I don’t want Mecha-Hitler and his army of robots anywhere near me.
I’m fairly certain Elon picked up Steve Jobs reality distortion field after Jobs death. It’s the only thing that can explain Tesla’s unsinkable stock price and Elon’s appearance in Iron Man 2.
Oh, for a moment I thought that was about the Quandt family.
The best looking BMW, IMHO, is the 507 roadster. Runner up is the E9 coupe.
Bob Lutz is spot on, the new stuff is largely hideous. Bangle was the beginning of a long slide. Though there are signs of hope in their latest couple of concept cars. Shame what they will do on the inside though – their interior design also peaked at the turn of the century. It’s all just gaudy bullshit at this point. BMW is soooo dead to me at this point.
Man, they’re really trying to Manifest Destiny on AI, eh?
As a Millennial born in the late 80s, I can’t think of a time 25 years ago where a tech driven industry crashed and screwed everyone.
Whew, thankfully we have no examples of how bad of an idea this is from this century at the very beginning of it.
I look at the E39 the same way I look at the FD RX7.
They were gorgeous when they came out, and the looks continue to age like a fine wine, making them look far less dated than they are.
I mean the vast majority of modern BMW design is trash. That’s not a hot take from Mr. Lutz either, it’s pretty much the consensus. But I also think it’s trash on purpose. I don’t actually believe that the majority of the designers working on those cars actually think they look good. I think their brief is literally “give us the most ostentatious vehicle possible that still includes some classic BMW design cues”.
This is for the Chinese market and conspicuous consumption crowd. I can’t speak to much of what’s going on in GINA but I do know that they like extraordinarily gaudy and tech heavy cars. Here in Yee Haw land stealth wealth is very much out.
This is cyclical and eventually it’ll be back in, but we’ve got now is sort of a redux of the pre financial crash 2000s when the point was to make everyone around you loudly know that you had money…although back then how you did that was a lot different compared to today.
You also have to keep in mind that the average person walking into a BMW dealership is someone who’s over leveraging themselves financially to lease something so they can post about it on social media. To them a 2 series coupe is an old man car but an iX will get them all the clicks they crave. BMW hasn’t made cars for us for a long, long time.
Anyway the Z8 is the best BMW design ever and we have none other than fraudster dujour Henrik Fisker to thank for it. Also re: Wynne I just…can’t for some reason. She’s cute and she’s got bars but the whole thing just feels very sanitized and gentrified to me. But then again I’m an oldhead so what do I know?
BMW has been coasting on the image created by Wilhelm Hofmeister and Paul Bracq. Everything since has been awful.
There’s a house by me I drive past regularly, that is just a textbook example of this. Newer construction 4,000 sq-ft faux-stone cube on a 6,000 sq-ft lakefront lot and the owner drives a green & gold BMW XM (exact same as the header pic) and a wrapped Cybertruck. Money certainly does not buy class!
I think the F80 M3 and the F90 M5 are the best-looking BMWs. Clean designs that have aged incredibly well. Basically, any vehicle from that 2018 era hasn’t been improved upon. Same thing happened at Mercedes. They haven’t been able to make a better-looking vehicle since the W222 S-class circa 2018.
And he would be correct.
Close to monetizing on AI will be the catchphrase of our “Lost Decade”.
You (almost) can’t blame them at this point. They keep lying about it and it keeps making them money.
I’d have to image that a 93 year old man might not be quite up to date on current styling and trends. Fine if Lutz thinks it is ugly – that is his opinion.
What matters to BMW is if cars are selling and BMW is racking up sales record after sales record
As I have long said about the Bangle-mangle 7-series that set sales records – imagine how many they would sell if they actually looked good? They sell in spite of the looks, not because of them. Or at least people buy the ugly-ass things because nobody will mistake them for anything else.
Personally, I prefer anonymity, which is why if I was in the market for a big-ass luxobarge there would be a VW Phaeton in my garage.
… or your tastes are / where out of fashion.
I actually agree with Lutz that some of BMW’s new vehicles are really ugly. I’m just not so bold as to believe I have a styling trend setter or that people should care what I think.
I don’t care if people care what I think. But I am no longer buying new BMWs. Was fun while it lasted.
Good taste is timeless.
I agree and answered to this a bit above. Style isn’t necessarily timeless, but Uncle Adrian would say good design is. How about some Loewy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Loewy
I’m sure he would agree with Lutz on this.
Well if it’s in your garage, it will likely stay there, so no one will see you drive it. Perfect anonymity!
Meh, I am not afraid of running one in the slightest. I ran a P38a Range Rover for five years with entirely acceptable reliability. The trick is don’t buy a hooptie – the best or don’t bother when it comes to something like a Phaeton. And even the best of them aren’t all that expensive.
I both love and hate the new BMW 7’s and the Tesla Cybertruck.
I hate them because they look ugly.
I love them because they actually look different.
In this world of regress-to-the-mean crossover utility vehicles – in which I would be hard-pressed to visually distinguish a Mazda CX-5, a CX-50, or a Toyota Camry, and which even the Ford Mustang is now available in 4-door crossover trim – something that is unique, even if uniquely ugly, still has value in being unique.
I love the Mitsubishi Mirage for offering it in colour.
Where else can you get an affordable vehicle with a full colour palette including pink?
The thing with the Cybertruck is that it’s terrible at being a truck. IMHO – it would have been MUCH better as a 3-row SUV. A Cyberburban if you will.
Still stupid and ugly, but at least more functional.
That is the definition of fashionable. It goes out of style. 93 yo guy knows good design is timeless. You apparently don’t. How’s your parachute pants? Acid washed jeans? I could go on. Loewy. Link below
The funny thing is parachute pants and a bunch of other things from my youth have come back in style. It is fun to show my nieces pictures of my wife and I dressed in styles they thought were new and trend setting.
At the end of the day a company (cloths or cars) cars are sales and profits.
My point is that good design is timeless and isn’t of the moment. I never liked parachute pants and som of the fashion choices of my adult daughters will probably be derided later.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Loewy
Funny how people think that designs they like are “timeless”.
Some people have taste. Most don’t.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”
Sometimes true, but I think there is more objectivity to beauty that we normally discuss (good design books will go into detail about why the human brain finds certain shapes and motifs pleasing), and modern BMW designs are objectively ugly. Like, the form is very clearly competing with the function, and our eyes notice that. We understand that ICE powered cars needed grills on the front for air intakes and cooling, so that necessity became a place for designers to show their handywork, but they were always bounded by engineering requirements. BMW’s kidney stone grills are the other way- the design department decided they wanted BIG AGGRESSIVE TEUTONIC ENERGY and wouldn’t take no for an answer. So now some poor schmuck engineer in the aerodynamics department cries themselves to sleep every night at the thought of all that gasoline pointlessly burned on the altar of designer ego.
Most grills on cars today (all brands) are not fully open. They are styling exercises but the actual grill opening is much smaller. Then there are active aero shutters and such.
That is the aerodynamicists desperate bandaid on a huge form drag problem. Does it help? Yes, but the more optimal solution is to have a front bluff body area about a quarter the size it is now.
Optimal aerodynamics do not line up with style or utility.
I’ve been in a few meetings with stylists and engineers fighting over a new model design. Can be an interesting show.
Hardly news that an old dude thinks something new is ugly.
The 635 CSi for me (heart emoji)
The news being he’s not wrong.
I wonder what he thinks all modern music is just noise too…
It was hilarious to hear my father-in-law go on and on about how bad he thinks the music my nieces listen to is. My wife asked him what his parents thought about 60’s music he listened to as a teen. He didn’t make the connection or at least would not admit that pretty much every generation complains about younger generations.
Most music of any era is just noise. The good stuff is timeless.
I like the 90s and early 2000s (E39 is the obvious choice!), I wasn’t a fan of most of the Bangle stuff, but most of the 2015-2023ish models look pretty good to me. I picked up a G01 (2022) X3 a few months ago and I still like the way that it evokes a much older 1-series wagon, just blown up 50%. It works.
They’ve all reached a new low as of the current crop, IMO. Such a mess. Mercedes isn’t much better. Lexus is getting there…slowly.
OTOH, Cadillac’s designs are all stunning.
The BMW “twin kidney” grille has in many ways limited them in the front end design department. Smaller and more distinctive is better, not the “in your face” f ugliness we have currently in many models.
Looking back for the time span that has been their main styling queue that says “BMW” – not really. Huge variations in height and width. But the modern stuff is just objectively terrible almost across the board. You can do kidney grilles without them looking like pig snouts, they did it for decades. But they are going for shouty, just like Mercedes with the idiotic illuminated star grilles that shout “I BOUGHT A MERCEDES” at 200dB.
The Vision Neue Klasse concept gives some hope. But at the same time – it doesn’t really look all that “BMW”. Two small kidneys in the middle of that pretty prow ala the original would say BMW in no uncertain terms without changing the overall style much.
I agree! Those lighted foot-wide Mercedes emblems are tacky as just about anything out there today,