Quote:
Originally Posted by Tacoma
I would dispute that bigger grille equals boldness. It's not. Oversized grilles have been done by Audi's Singleframe grille and Lexus' Spindle grille and recently MB with the large Panamericana grille. And just as you are saying a large grille has been "a part of BMW history," Lexus and MB have made that claim before as well, so even the justification for it is not new. You can't claim boldness if you're only copying a design trend that's more than decade old (Audi's Singleframe started in 2007).
|
Lexus does not really have much of a history especially when it is around 30 years old. BMW had that oversize grille in the thirties and as an example on the 1939 328. Sure the grille was a lot thinner but it was large enough to dominate the front of the car. Which is what's happens with the new 4 which you see with the concept.
It was pre-warned with the 328 Hommage and CSL Hommage concepts that radical change was being thought of. The rear lights that everyone thinks have been influenced by Lexus actually began to gestate with the BMW ConnectedDrive Concept.
But the ideas certainly were conceived in the eighties/nineties where an idea to use the headlights or indeed L shaped tail lights as just a shape in the metal, just a light bar, not a full unit are coming back.
A good example of this idea being used was on the E46 3er Compact where the front lights are not actually units but the actual double-halo headlights situated in the actual front of the car.
Everything you have seen is considered original because they pushed these ideas forward for forthcoming change. Remember the auto industry is actually real life time travel. You can look back to go forward.
The 4er when it launches next Summer may be all new to the market But it will be over two years old.