The New BMW 5-Series Nearly Had A Huge Grille, But It Looked Too Much Like The 7-Series

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It has doubtless warmed the cockles of countless enthusiasts’ hearts that the new BMW 5-Series does not have a large, vertical kidney grille, like the one seen on the new 7-Series. That’s not for lack of trying on the part of Domagoj Dukec, BMW’s head of design.

“We tried vertical also in the design phase, but even if you then do different headlamps, it begins to sneak up on the 7,” Dukec recently told Road & Track. “So, we discussed it with some people and then said: no, let’s keep them further apart. It was a very deliberate decision to go that way, and not follow the 7.”

He added that the more horizontally-oriented grille lends itself to the sportier and more elegant spirit of the 5-Series. Indeed, when they saw the front-end of the new sedan with the wider grille it now has, the designers agreed that it looked more appropriate. Dukec is quick to clarify that the decision didn’t come because of the mixed reactions to the XM and the 7-Series, though.

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“I’ve always said when I was asked about why the kidneys are so big, why this or that is. I said, ‘Look, these are particular models’,” he explained. “They have expressive customers, they have status-oriented customers. So wait until you see the 3-Series and 5-Series cars, with which people are looking for other things.”

After selling the 5-Series for 50 years, BMW is pretty clear about who is buying them, and what they are looking for. Dukec said that the sedan’s buyers are happy about their position in life, but don’t like to show off.

“They want a car that, of course, expresses their achievements and so, but in a different way,” he said. “A car to which neighbors say ‘oh, nice!’, but not thinking ‘whoa, he/she has really achieved it’.”

The grille wasn’t the only challenge for the new 5-Series. Dukec admits that figuring out how to incorporate the batteries for the all-electric i5 into the design without making it look precariously tall was difficult.

“This car has a really, really nice side view. The only thing is that you sit higher. That’s not so easy to handle, because you want to sit in the car, and not on the car,” said Dukec. “That’s the biggest challenge, not just for us designers, but also the engineers.”

Ultimately, his boss, head of BMW Group design, Adrian van Hooydonk is very happy with the work the team has done. He praised the new car’s proportions, describing it as “long, elegant, and sporty.”