BMW design boss says 4 Series grille won’t be rolled out across the range

The oversized kidney grille on BMW's new-generation 4 Series has been a talking point since its debut, but the design boss has assured its detractors it won't be making it onto other models in the range.

In a new interview with BMW Blog, BMW's Head of Design, Domagoj Dukec, revealed the bold aesthetic addition was specifically created for the 4 Series and did not mark an across-the-board image overhaul for the German brand.

“The kidneys are not changing for all BMWs ... We wanted to give the 4 Series a very particular kidney grille," Mr Dukec told the publication.

He also reportedly acknowledged the controversial look was “not for everybody" and said that car design is “not about beauty or ugliness”, but about being unmistakable.

According to Motor1, Mr Dukec also added: "Customers are getting demanding because the market is saturated with good products, so you have to stand out. And as the needs of our customers are so different individually, we want to give each customer a different product.

"We don't want to have any detail repeating on a model, because every model should have a unique character," he added.

"Cars like the 3 Series and 5 Series will keep more horizontal kidneys, and we really enjoy using the kidneys in different ways. Maybe there will be more vertical kidneys in the future, but right now it is currently not changing for all BMWs."

We're likely to see the oversized grille again on the electric BMW i4, which wore a large, blacked-out kidney grille when it debuted in late-stage concept form earlier this year.

The i4 concept also featured another notable design addition in the form of the brand's updated logo on its bonnet.

The logo is a 'flat' version of the familiar propeller motif that BMW says is "better-suited to the digital age".

It will be primarily used for online and offline communication purposes and it's unclear whether it will make it onto the production version of the i4.

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