Another day, another designer attempting to redesign the face of the new BMW M3. I’m not sure there’s ever been a car that’s had more attempts to “fix” it than this new M3. Even if you love it, there’s no denying just how polarizing it’s become. In this latest video famous designer Chip Foose shows off his own attempt to fix the grille.
Admittedly, he does more than fix the grille and he uses logic to do so. Foose notes that BMW isn’t the only brand that’s extending the height of its grilles to the bottom of the front fascia, as Audi, Lexus and even Ford are doing it. However, because the BMW kidney grille is the most iconic of all the aforementioned brands’ grilles, the M3’s is the most egregious.
What Foose attempts to do is just modify the new grille to keep it more traditional but without completely changing the current car’s style. Essentially, he kept the shape and size of the grille but sort of bisected the twin kidneys with part of the front bumper. So they’re both split into top and bottom halves. He also changed up some of the front air intakes and added some horizontal amber lights, as a throwback to the E30 M3.
Overall, the design is certainly interesting. Personally, I don’t actually love it but I do think it looks better than the standard car. One thing I absolutely will agree with Foose on is that BMW has ventured too far from its roots with the design of the M3 and M4, deciding to follow the current automotive trend of monster grilles. After seeing Foose’s design, it’s clear that BMW could have fitted a large grille to its M3 and M4 without just slapping two giants kidneys to them. The design could have been a bit more sophisticated that it currently is and it’s evident by just a quick sketch from another artist.
