Andrew Frankel: 'I want no part in a future that includes a car so irredeemably ugly'
“If the BMW iX is what the future looks like, then I want no part in it," writes Andrew Frankel. Bentley's electric future, though, looks more promising
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I always find it strange when colleagues pronounce on the appearance of a new car. First such matters are entirely subjective, but second it is the one aspect of any new car we are in no better position to judge than anyone else. Motoring journalists are not, as a rule, style gurus. They are a scruffy bunch at the best of times, far more interested in how cars drive than look. Which is why I fit in so well.
Then a car like the new BMW iX rears its head, a car so irredeemably ugly it actually poses broader questions about the direction in which the company is going and where the board of management was on the day it got signed off. I’m interested too in its patronising response to those with the temerity to question it, one reply on Twitter stating: “When it comes to innovative design, it’s common for some to find it unusual and odd. Be open to the new look and let’s embrace the future together.”
A few things here. First, if that’s what the future looks like, I want no part in it. Second, the design is not innovative. The i8 of 2014 was innovative, not only because it was light, clever and packed with interesting tech but because it was, to these eyes, the first successfully styled mid-engined 2+2. The iX design isn’t innovative. It’s poor. And as for some finding it odd, if the comments on websites I’ve read are in any way indicative, that ‘some’ is the vast majority of respondents and ‘odd’ the kinder observation.
