Originally Posted by thebmw
"We have, I think, fans rather than customers,"
Adrian van Hooydonk is not too smart. Customers are fans, fans are customers. Piss either of them off... Looks like he lives in a nice little bubble in Munich.
BMW's design boss Domagoj Dukec is acutely aware of the noise surrounding the company's creations. "I'm reading social media and press, and I can see that some people are wondering where BMW is heading, but I can assure you that we have a clear vision about where we're going. We all love the brand."
Dukec is a liar. He stated before that he is consciously doing away with tradition and BMW design cues. That is not someone who loves the brand. That is someone who thinks the brand's traditions are crap. He wants to blow them all up and come up with designs that make absolutely no sense, simply to give the middle finger to traditional BMW design. Don't believe me? Ask Frank Stephenson, the former head of BMW design and the designer of some of the most classic cars in automotive history.
"Not really," he tells Top Gear. "I've been in this business for over 20 years. You know how it is in design - everybody has an opinion. That's normal. If you want to create something that stands out, it must be distinguished and it has to be different."
Ducek is an idiot if he really thinks this. Virtually everyone and every journalist and every designer that has the balls to speak up has categorically panned the new 4 and the iX. That has literally never happened before to that extent with BMW (even when Bangle was there). Reason? The designs are non-symmetrical, non-congruent, lack cohesiveness, and lack an underlying theme. That is not progress at all. That is kindergarten scrapbook design.
OK. But is he absolutely adamant that they're plotting the right course? "You can create something beautiful, and we also have cars which are just pretty. But there are some customers that, if you want to reach them, you have to stand out. You have to create something that is not in-line; maybe not like an everyday car or an everyday product, but that's exactly the reason."
Are you kidding me? The 4 is beautiful? Man, his wife must look like an f'ing beaver. And not the beaver that's desirable! Now he says that the new 4 and iX are not an everyday car? Seriously, is this guy on drugs or really that stupid and arrogant (or both)?
He points to BMW's heritage – recent heritage – and the Bangle-era BMWs which were "so criticised" at the time, now being looked back on with fondness, like the E60 5 Series. "That was breaking with everything so far [up to that point]," Dukec tells us.
Dukec still doesn't get it. Bangle was criticized for being different. Dukec is criticized because he has made the 4 look like as schizophrenic as a Picasso. There are all types of shapes and sizes that don't line up or match. Dukec may literally be the male reincarnation of "Karen". So detached from reality and blames the customer for their "opinion".
"Now, this is a special time. It is different and distinguished [the new cars], I think this is something we are used to. It is not our goal to please everyone in the world. You can't make a design which pleases everyone. But you have to please your customers," he adds.
Ok Karen. Piss off everyone and blame it on them. Karen Dukec...
"Not all our products get the same critics," Dukec said. "You can see that on something as polarising like the kidneys on the 4 Series, 20 per cent of people are liking it. That fits to the type of customers we are targeting.
Hilarious. He literally said 80% of people hate his design and he is proud of it. He is a total KAREN! The last 4 series was probably loved by 80%+. I don't know a single person that did not like the E92 and that was "different" at the time!
"It's impossible to create something where everybody will cheer and say 'this is the most beautiful car in the world'," Dukec said. (To which we say 'E38 7 Series'. Wonder where the group called 'nostalgic curmudgeons with no money' fits into BMW's fan base?)
OMG, this guy is a designer? There are many cars that have been universally loved. He is such a shi*ty designer that he thinks that everyone hates all designs. No, they hate your designs, Karen Dukec.
Van Hooydonk had more to say. "It's really fantastic [if you have fans]. It means you have people that not just buy your products, but love what you do. Of course, if they love what you do, the minute you change it, they might have an issue with it.
No Van Hooy Lewis and the News, they have issues with cars that look like beavers having an orgasm.
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