A high-ranking BMW executive says “people love” the firm’s latest oversized kidney grilles (as employed by the X7 and facelifted 7 Series) despite some initial criticism.
Speaking to Autocar, Peter Henrich, senior vice-president for product management at BMW, claimed the Munich-based firm had received “very positive” feedback about its latest design decisions.
“BMW customers are demanding. They want to express something and are not afraid of vehicles with strong characters. They are looking for it. So we have decided to focus even more on strong characters and bold design.
“The design team with [senior vice-president of BMW Group Design] Adrian van Hooydonk do an excellent job in designing and defining that character. The feedback received has been very positive,” Henrich said.
“When first shown the X7, people said: ‘How big is the kidney grille?’. But customers never reacted like that and the car is a great success. It’s sold out for a very long period and people love it.
“There are always people specifically looking for something critical and afraid of something new. But we are very self-confident and will continue,” he added.
