FRANKFURT PART FIVE

These are my final five cents for this years Frankfurt show, part five. An Escher-esque perspective on the status quo, the end is the beginning. We enter the fair at the south side and stumble into the BMW show. The first impressions of the day, we are excited and glare at the displayed products. The Bavarian brand puts us into to the automotive loop, visitors at a circus full of energy rather than consumers of metal dreams. Is Frankfurt all about metal or is it the story telling, the car culture, what it's all about these days?

Next to the all new One series the guys from Munich have enough stories to tell. Conceptually it is all about dotting the i, and yes I dig these fairy tales. Two cars, two book ends. Siblings with their own character, but connected by a strong formal formula. One is soft and fluent, the other more industrial and pragmatic or functional.  Respect goes out to the underlaying blueprint that must have been the starting point of this adventure, design inside out, a throughout vision of what might be the future. And yes, I really like that I3 steering column for its smart and optical light weight appearance.

Free form butterfly glass doors anyone? We will have to see and wait what will reach the market. In a  far corner of our first hall we see a clean stand of BMW Individual. Clean lights and lots of reference from the world of design. Eames here, B&O there. Window dressing or philosophy? First lesson in Frankfurt; it is all about context!

-Matt.

Comments

[Rik]

I couldn't have said it any better: BMW RULES BIG TIME. I might even be ready for a 3-series touring and that's gotta tell y'all something.

[Geert]

+1 !
The hot seat is inside a BMW these days. IAA part 5 rightfully positioned at the top of the reviews. (Great spot of that i8 hood reflection btw).

@Rik: not sure if 'your' 3 will have much in common with the brand's visions of the near future, but they're definitely very nice drivers' cars. Had the privilege to drive lots of different Beamers (1, 3, 5, 7, X1) thru our rental company in the past years and have also become a converted non-believer.

@Mat: Metal & glass? You dinosaur you! For the record: BMW/van Hooijdonk's wonder stuff is made with carbon fibre & polycarbonate :)

And then I ask myself: is it a coincidence that a lot of the stuff coming out of TU Delft's Automotive Design department in the last 5 years was about context and connectivity?
I think not.

[huib]

Matt, thanks, excellent story and visuals.

If I might start answering your questions and mine too: I am starting to believe car culture today is -arguably- mainly about story telling & 'fairy tales' context.

+1, BMW seems to have two excellent story telling examples with the i's, whilst at the same time the i's are showing the physical technology (plastics, fibres, weight saving) behind it.

Could this being one of the first bigger scale pioneers even mean a possible disadvantage (remmende voorsprong)?

[Geert]

@Huib: the i3 is fully electric and has a range of 150 km (only) yet would cost 40k Euro in Germany. Don't think you need many other arguments to make that a niche product only.