For many people, getting a good education, working hard and saving is the golden path to achieving success. Those who manage to reach this stage of security soon realise that sound investment is the key to retaining their hard-earned money.Expressing one’s new-found status is often a double-deged sword, and many fall into the cycle of accumulating more and more high-priced items to the detriment of their budgets and bank balances. But what constitutes a good investment? In the world of luxury vehicles there is one marque that has always symbolised status, style and sound investment; The BMW 7 series.
The BMW 7-series was amongst the first luxury vehicles that were aimed at a market that wasn’t just limited to the mega-wealthy. What had initially been code-named the E32, the BMW 7-series took the world by storm during the ‘70s, and has retained this tradition amongst discerning drivers until present day. The company that began its existence manufacturing bicycles and motorbikes, has consistently impressed drivers with superlative styling and features, as the following images show. (insert photo) Car reviews can be misleading and, while always praising new (or semi-new) innovations, can turn a blind-eye to obvious faults, especially in design. Being a journalist, I fully understand this, but there is an aspect of the 2020 Series-7 that needs to be discussed. The enormous grille. I have always found BMW’s iconic kidney-shaped grille a pleasing reminder that I am driving the pinnacle of understated elegance within a hotly contended market.
However, the 40% increase in grille size is far more fitting on the X7 series, from where it initially came, and makes an otherwise perfect car look chunky. But what inspired BMW’s design team to take this radical leap? My theory is that we consumers are the main cause of, what is seen by many, a serious design blunder. Since the industrial revolution took hold in the East, small businesses started to grow and slowly the standard of living started changing in previously impoverished areas.
This new wealth soon generated a new market of drivers with increasing demands for bigger, better, and newer. Of course, the car manufacturers were more than happy to fill this growing need, and we have seen an annual launching of new models from most of the major manufacturers.
Unfortunately, many of these are just slightly remodeled versions of existing models; Shinier, brighter, sometimes bigger, but essentially the same vehicle.
A comparison can be drawn to car design in the USA during the heyday of huge tail fins, grills and bumpers that could destroy a cold-war bunker. The Asian market with its love of bling, and drawing inspiration from this American ideal, has placed huge demands on car manufacturers, and it hasn’t always been a success.
The concept of form follows function has been thrown out of the window, and in its place, a slew gaudy offerings are thrust upon an ever-growing market of consumers who don’t know any better. The West, particularly Europe, has seen a return to understated design as the sign of success and elegance.
Maybe it is time for the Asian vehicle market to follow suit and stop pandering to whatever car manufacturers think we want. Let’s bring back the true ethic of car design, one that doesn’t include tassels, trinkets, or oversized grilles!
Christian Narvselius
(Edited by: Andrew Knapp)
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