It’s not just us. In new articles, forums, and anecdotally, many BMW enthusiasts just hate the ginormous “beaver fang” grilles on new BMWs. When the XM made its first appearance, the entire design group became a victim of fan’s ire. After all, it’s one thing to bonk some oversized grilles onto your favorite BMW, but it’s another to create something so awkward when there were so many great paths the XM design could have gone. Just when you thought you may have seen the last of the ridiculous BMW grilles, along comes the 2024 7 Series. 

No, the grille has not gotten larger. Instead, it has gotten more weird. That’s because the grille has to accommodate ultrasonic sensors, radar, and 3D lidar into the top portion. These are for what BMW calls Personal Pilot L3, which is a new driver-assist system.

Why did BMW add these bass horns to its 7 Series grille?

So now the upper portion of the grille gets interrupted with these bass horn-looking pockets. The already large, toothy grille must now contend with still more geegaws and interruptions. What would have been an improvement is to close off that area with sheet metal and paint and stick the lidar bullhorns in a section of the already dark parking light holes. 

If there is good news to any of this, it’s that BMW Personal Pilot L3 tech won’t be coming across the pond. It is for European-spec 7 Series sedans and, coming next year, for the i7. Possibly another spec of good news is that U.S. buyers won’t have to fork over the $6,500 to get it. 

And still more good news for European buyers is that when they’re behind the wheel of their 2024 7 Series sedans, they can’t see the front end. That’s a bit like what 1950s pinstripe pioneer and lowbrow artist Von Dutch once said, that he never worried about doing the exact same striping on either side of a car because you can’t see both sides at the same time. 

Will BMW ever beat this cycle of ugly?

And wait, there’s still more good news on the horizon for BMW enthusiasts. It’s called Neue Klasse, and it is a glimpse of what its styling direction will take moving forward. Obviously, upper management was more than aware of the general disappointment its current lineup engenders. So Neue Klasse is a way to salve BMW fans and give them hope that the wheels have completely fallen off the design wagon. 

Its i Vision Dee sedan has a crisp and clean design that still features organic curves and surface development. Though not carrying over any of the design cues of the first 3 Series, it conveys that sort of feel. The word is we’ll see a Neue Klasse production version next year with deliveries in 2025. Then we can finally bid adieu to the very unfortunate Beaver Fang grille with and without bass bullhorns.