Korean Car Brands' Design Changes and BMW's Imitation
TapTechNews reported on June 6. According to CarsCoops, in recent years, Korean car brands have shown confident design styles, demonstrating a deep understanding of their positioning, target customers, and customer needs. However, not long ago, brands such as Kia were still striving to imitate their favorite BMW. Now the plot seems to have reversed, and BMW seems to have run out of inspiration and begun to 'imitate' the design of Koreans, which can be said to be imitating the style that Kia used to imitate them before.
The new BMW 1 Series on the left side of the above picture, but from some angles, it can easily be mistaken for the five-year-old Kia Ceed on the right side. Although the new 1 Series is not ugly, it lacks distinctiveness.
CarsCoops said that if the blue and white roundel on the front of the car is removed, it would be difficult to recognize that this is a BMW. Although in recent years some models of BMW have adopted extremely large air intake grilles, which have been criticized, at least it allows others to recognize it as a BMW at a glance.
Some Reddit users claimed that the grille of the latest BMW 1 Series is very similar to the old Kia's Tiger Nose grille, and even bears some resemblance to the grille that Skoda imitated BMW (now Skoda has abandoned this design). The grille of the new 1 Series not only lacks originality, but also appears even uglier due to the addition of a disgusting sensor panel in the middle. In addition, the trim of the M Sport version (pictured below) extends in different directions, which is even more puzzling.
TapTechNews would like to point out that the new BMW 1 Series is not a全新换代 model, but just a major upgrade based on the 2019 model. In contrast, the iVision Circular hatchback concept car released in 2021 indicates that the future BMW 1 Series will have a more exciting and creative design.
In addition, the all-new Neue Klasse series of sedans and SUVs will begin to be released one after another from next year, which is expected to reignite people's enthusiasm for BMW design. However, the controversial design of the revised 2025 1 Series will still exist for several years, and its controversialness will continue to be discussed.