BMW Design: The Golden Years (Car Design Documentary)

BMW’s design has been in a funk for a few years now. Sure, there are a few winners, but for the most part, their cars range anywhere from decent to questionable to “put that thing back where it came from or so help me.” Regardless of how you think they look, we can at least say they’re a cohesive unit. There’s the distinctive kidney grille stretched out between the headlights. It’s usually darkened and has a helping of chrome trim. The headlights themselves have an effect that resembles a halo. Its execution varies from car to car, but it’s featured on each of them. On the side, we have the Hofmeister Kink. The quarter window kicks back toward the front of the car. This creates a weighty C-Pillar and hints at the rear-drive configuration that the car may or may not possess. Coming around to the rear, we spot one more unifying detail; the L-shaped taillights. Once again, it varies from car to car. It ducks under more aggressively on newer models like the 3 and 7, though most of their lineup still sports a toned-down version. You can find traces of the singular elements throughout the industry. When grouped together, however, you have yourself a design language that’s distinctly BMW. One that separates itself from the pack. One that has stood the test of time. Though it hasn’t always been like this. The BMW look has been developing for decades and there was a time when BMW’s didn't look like BMW’s. What did they look like back then? Who spearheaded its development? And most importantly, how did they get from HERE to HERE? This is the evolution of BMW Design.

This is part one of a three-part series on BMW. It was inspired by a comment left by Magellanic SpaceClouds. As always, if you have suggestions for videos then feel free to leave them in the comments down below.

TIMESTAMPS


00:00 Intro
1:54 BMW Before Cars
4:42 Pre-War Cars
8:21 Back At One
18:57 A New Class
22:00 Paul Bracq Era
27:07 Claus Luthe Era

SOURCES
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Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound