New BMW 1 Series: Beautiful or Ugly Design

Criticising something is very easy to do and does not take too much effort! I always to try my best to highlight and emphasise why I criticise a car. However, this time I was surprised with the Google search traffic for the new Ugly Beauty: BMW 1 Series article. Many people typed BMW 1 Series is ugly on Google and end up in my blog. From one perspective, that’s good. People are reading my blog and it appears in first page of the search results. However, that is not fair. People in BMW spend hours and hours to design this new car.

I never been in a design department but I can imagine how hard it is to create a new car in way which can receive positive criticism and meantime generate cash. Design department is covered with stress. Some customers may not wish to order their car with sophisticated technologies, but the design of a car cannot be separated from the car. And this makes the process of designing a new car as one of the most critical aspect.

As we all know, it does not end up quite well some time. During the Bangle era in BMW, most of the designs were serious issue. Many people didn’t like it, received many negative criticism. However, the new design team in BMW changed this. New BMW 5, 6 and 7 Series showed the abilities of BMW’s design department and altered our perception on the brand. Each of these are one the best looking car in their segment.

However, this was not that good for new 1 Series. Because, after these amazingly good looking cars, many people were expecting to see something really different. It should be as good looking as the new 5 Series or sportive like 6 Series. When you compare the 1 Series with these models, it does not have the same essence. And this is not an appropriate way of interpretation. 1 Series is not the competitor of 5 or 6 or 7 Series. 1 Series is the competitor of VW Golf, Ford Focus and Audi A3. When you consider these cars, I can clearly say 1 Series and Ford Focus are head-to-head! I cannot ignore the new Ford Focus, it is not like the first generation but it is way beyond better than the previous one. And when you consider 1 Series and Focus, it is really hard to which is the best.

Introducing cars in lower segments are good opportunity to increase cash flow, but it also allow consumers to judge the design concepts with high expectations. Whatever I write here, people will not compare the 1 Series with Focus. They will still compare it with the other BMW models! I think BMW also knows this, and may be they introduced the best interior in this segment! I am not sure about the exterior but the 1 Series has the best interior on its segment.