Legendary BMW Exec Bob Lutz Thinks New BMWs ‘Are Beyond Ugly’

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