You Can See BMW Chickened out on a Beaver Fang Grille for iX2
You’ve seen the images of BMW’s all-new iX2 and probably had some relief the German automaker didn’t bonk the bad beaver fang grille onto it. With BMW recently showing its new design direction, without the oversized grille, it looks like they’ve raised the white flag. But if you look at the iX2 front end, you can see it may have changed course.
What’s the difference between the beaver fang grille and iX2?
BMW has spent a couple of years commenting on how the beaver fang grille is the best, and nay-sayers are misguided. Its Neu-Klasse concepts show that it has gone against that stance. But what about those Beemers that are in development as the design group peddles backward on the controversial grille?
From our Photoshop images, you can see how the beaver fang grille nests quite nicely into the spot where the more traditional iX2 kidney bean resides. That black mask shooting down from the good grille and then angles out around the lower grille gives an outline of what designers might have intended for the beaver fang grille.
Whether true or not, we’re happy to see BMW moving away from the overwrought and oversized grille. It is hard for some to imagine a more moderate grille for cars like the iXM and 3-Series. But all you need to do is look back a couple of years to see BMWs without the monstrous grille.
Why is the Neue Klasse BMW grille better?
Looking at the Neue Klasse grille, you can see how BMW is changing course. It is spreading the grille out horizontally to tie in the headlights. That, and combining the clean lower pan, reeks of classic BMW with a contemporary slant.
It also mixes up the grille opening with LED light displays for an almost playful breakup of what was once an opening for air. That shows up on the 2021 i Vision Circular concept. Though it looks like a replacement for the i3, the grille is very much like the Neue Klasse concept.
What’s the grille consensus?
The ability to rethink what was once a grille opening is the salvation for BMW’s design. It hampers their weird mega-grille direction. When you look at what makes a BMW a BMW, there are only two elements that carry through the generations. One is the kidney bean grille, and the other is the Hoffmeister kink in the C-pillar.
We look forward to BMW getting a clearer vision of what the future of the company’s designs needs to be. It is already showing it has moved on from the beaver tooth grille to a more contemporary and sane look.
