What is wrong with BMW? The new BMW i3 has been revealed globally and the design has the whole car community dumbfounded. The design is being criticized by pretty much everyone and we ourselves don’t seem to understand who in BMW approved this design as an “upgrade.” The BMW 3 Series design and silhouette has been the most iconic one since at least the last few decades. It is the car that comes to almost everyone’s mind when they think of BMW, mainly because of the subtle and sleek design that always stood the test of time. Even an E30 BMW 3 Series from the early 1980s looks wonderful even today and is still hugely popular among both enthusiasts and collectors globally.
The BMW 3 Series is the typical BMW car that also sets in motion everything else that BMW does for the other cars in the lineup. Even BMW car has a bit of the 3 series in it. That is how important this car is in terms of how it looks and what it means. And if the new i3 does actually hint at the design of the next generation BMW 3 Series, it will definitely ruin the 3 series novelty to quite an extent. And we do have it in good proof that this is the next design language from the German car maker. A few days back, images of the upcoming BMW X5 were leaked online and that also hinted at a very similar design language. The latest BMW iX3, which is yet to make its debut in India also takes certain cues from this design language. It is not only that, the next generation of the BMW 3 series will also look similar to this, as we have seen from reports and leaks online.
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So yes, the sleek BMW 3 Series silhouette, as we know it is effectively ending in a year or so. BMW is calling this new design language as Neue Klasse (new class) which, the brand says, shifts more towards a minimalistic approach with fewer lines and fewer curves. The changes aren’t only on the outside.
With the interiors of the upcoming cars also, BMW has done something that really does not sit well with me and probably won’t with anyone else who has been a fan of BMW cars. The interiors have what BMW is calling a “panoramic display,” which is a narrow LED screen that runs through the width of the dashboard. While it is fine, this will replace the instrument cluster for the driver. No speed-o-meter in a BMW. Never in a million years I could imagine myself writing my thoughts on something like this.
So yes, the BMW i3 may be a nice car, we don’t know much about it but what BMW has done with the design of the cars, especially the iconic 3 series will definitely hurt the brand’s perception of being the “driver’s car.” No enthusiast wants to drive around in something that looks like a half-baked future vehicle. The cars looked better in the “Alt Klasse” (old class). They have character, they spoke of something, they looked like a dream waiting to be achieved. The new cars, they just don’t seem to have that aura.
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