The burn is strong from Mercedes.
Social media is a landscape full of landmines. Not so much for Average Joe and Jane taking selfies and complaining about Star Wars, but for celebrities and large companies it's worth being cautious. Particularly when you want to show a sense of humor and take a little poke at the direct competition. In this case, BMW gave everyone a chuckle showing a Mercedes in a BMW costume and saying: "Now every car can dress up as its favorite superhero."
The Tweet from BMW tagged Daimler AG's Twitter account, and around 40 minutes later fired a shot back, saying: "Nice one, @BMWUSA. That's a really scary costume! Especially that radiator grille..."
Daimler AG didn't even need to add an image to maximize the burn. Wisely, at the time of writing anyway, BMW hasn't fired another shot back. Predictably, there's been some piling on in the replies over the seemingly ever-increasing size of BMW's signature kidney grills, including some wonderful Photoshop exaggerations.
For those that have been paying attention to BMW's design evolution, the enlarged kidney grills started with the BMW X7 crossover. The design divided opinion, but it was on a large vehicle and could have ended there. Except, BMW then followed up with disproportionately sized grills on the 7 Series sedan.
It was the Concept 4 shown at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show that took things to the extreme. At the time, Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President BMW Group Design, said that "The BMW Concept 4 embodies the aesthetic essence of the BMW brand. It combines perfect proportions with a clear and precise design."
That has left many shaking their heads, and forced BMW into defending its choice to go big on the kidney grilles. Then shots of the actual production 4 Series were leaked, and while not as drastic as the concept, people are still scratching their heads. BWM has been renowned for sophisticated styling from its inception as a car company, and it's starting to look like the company has run out of ideas.
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