BMW to Tone Down Electric Vehicle Styling

As electric powered vehicles go mainstream, BMW sees no reason to continue setting them apart from the rest of their design trends.

In 2013, BMW made a bold statement by releasing the plug-in electric i3 into the wild, and then following up with the hybrid i8 the next year. The styling was bold and futuristic to help with the impact and signify how forward-thinking BMW is by fully embracing electric power. However, Autocar is reporting that BMW plans to tone down their electric vehicle styling over time.

BMW’s design director Adrian van Hooydonk says, “Electric mobility will spread through our entire vehicle range in quite a short space of time – to the point that electric or plug-in hybrid is just another option box you tick as you order the car.”

It does make sense as we move into a world where plug-in electric vehicles will fill our cities while the rest of the market becomes dominated by both fuel economy or performance biased hybrids. They have already made it known they are going to embrace the new technology in terms of driving dynamics, and van Hooydonk hammers that home by saying, “The fact is that BMW customers want a dynamic car, whether it is a battery-electric vehicle or not, and so there’s increasingly less reason to make these kinds of cars look different.”

The Concept iX3 already shows BMW trending back to more current styling. Although the iX3 is all electric, it’s styling is close to the standard X3. As Autocar points out, it would make sense for BMW to save the bold and futuristic electric vehicle styling for things such as the Vision iNext concept, which is due in 2021 to show off BMW’s autonomous and connected vehicle technologies.

BMW is promising “The iNext project will provide our building blocks for the future, from which the entire company and all of its brands are set to benefit.” So, while we can now expect the electric and hybrid cars to tone down, there’s no reason not to expect BMW’s creative design team keep pushing things forward into the future.

Join the 5Series forums now!

Ian Wright

Ian Wright has been a professional writer for two years and is a regular contributor to Corvette Forum, Jaguar Forum, and 6SpeedOnline, among other auto sites.

His obsession with cars started young and has left him stranded miles off-road in Land Rovers, being lost far from home in hot hatches, going sideways in rallycross cars, being propelled forward in supercars and, more sensibly, standing in fields staring at classic cars. His first job was as a mechanic and then trained as a driving instructor before going into media production.

The automotive itch never left though, and he realized writing about cars is his true calling. However, that doesn’t stop him from also hosting the Both Hand Drive podcast.

Ian can be reached at bothhanddrive@gmail.com