BMW States that China Was the Cause of Its Huge Grille Trend

      BMW

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      With the forthcoming Neue Klasse range from BMW, it appears that the brand's trend of overly large kidney grilles is likely coming to a close. While some of its more divisive design elements, such as bulky wheel arches and angular bumpers, seem to be sticking around, we’ll take any positive changes we can get. Nonetheless, BMW’s design leadership maintains that they don’t believe the large grilles went too far, pointing to specific markets—particularly China—as still favoring them.

      During a roundtable discussion at the unveiling of the new iX3 SUV, BMW Group Design Director Adrian van Hooydonk, as reported by Australia’s CarExpert, disagreed when asked if BMW’s grilles had become “too radical.” He stated, “No, because it depends on where you are in the world. In certain areas, like China, it is good; people are still asking for big grilles. So this is sort of the tricky situation that you’re in as a global brand.”

      Van Hooydonk mentioned that BMW acknowledged “all the negative comments” regarding the controversial grille designs on models such as the M3, 7 Series, and XM, but noted, “we never saw it in the sales figures. Actually, quite the opposite. So in some way or form, we didn’t feel that we had to react.”

      The 2026 BMW iX3.

      As someone who is not a fan of the grilles on recent BMWs, I find that no response from the design chief other than “we messed up” would be satisfactory. That being said, his reasoning is somewhat confusing. It feels as if he is shifting the blame to Chinese customers, but from browsing my favorite Chinese auto industry blog, I don’t really see evidence supporting his claims. While models like the Zeekr 009 and BYD’s Yangwang SUVs do feature sizeable grilles, many designs currently trending favor more streamlined shapes and lighting configurations that create a striking visual identity from a distance, much like in Western markets.

      Regardless of Chinese car buyers’ preferences, van Hooydonk made a clear statement: BMW did not face repercussions for its design choices, seemingly anywhere in the world. “We never saw it in the sales figures,” he commented, indicating that consumer response was “the opposite,” meaning positive. So, if the reaction was so universally favorable, whose market wishes was BMW trying to balance?

      I find BMW’s self-evaluation perplexing. According to van Hooydonk, the company appears to have concluded that it needs to take a “bigger step” in terms of design; that “the risk of not changing enough would be far greater than changing too much.” However the team formulated the Neue Klasse aesthetic, I’m pleased they did. It’s not flawless, but it represents progress, and I’m keen to see how the production i3 will ultimately look.

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