BMW, TAKE A LEAF OUT OF APPLE’S DESIGN BOOK

THE BMW STYLING pile-on can happen elsewhere, yet love it or more likely loathe it, Munich’s new design direction is now firmly here to stay. With the new 7 Series revealed this week (p6), the shock factor has only increased further.

Robert Kahlenberg, the car’s project director, notes that the styling is only giving 7 Series buyers in its largest market (he doesn’t name China, but it’s there) what they want.

Yet are global design tastes really that different? For almost two decades, Apple has been hailed as the vanguard in product design – and its designs are appreciated and admired all around the world. It, like most other top premium brands, enjoys just as much success in China as in other global markets without the need to tailor designs so crudely for one country.

BMW’S strategy is not without success: last year, it comfortably outsold arch-rivals Mercedes-benz and Audi in China. Yet how much better could it do elsewhere with a design strategy that has even broader appeal?

As with the ix before it, BMW’S self-appointed flagship and statement of its future, the conversation about the 7 Series is being needlessly distracted by the looks and away from the quite brilliant technology behind it.