There have been many fixes for the M4's face, but a solution from within BMW's own design room could hold the key.
The recently unveiled BMW Concept Touring Coupe dominated talk in car circles this past weekend and, unsurprisingly, its throwback clown shoe design has inspired artists like Khyzyl Saleem to take the design study and apply its traits to other BMWs. Saleem posted to his social media channels a quick mock-up of the CTC's design elements implemented on the current BMW M4, and we can't help but feel this looks way better than BMW's original design.
If you've never seen Saleem's work before, you're missing out. A concept artist in the truest sense, his designs are as beautiful as they are inspiring, making one rethink classic cars in entirely new lights. His recent work with Porsche saw the real-life creation of the Nebula 928, a collaborative design that looks equal parts '80s and out of this world.
Other renderings, like the Mercedes 190E Evo II concept that looks like something out of Need For Speed, make you wish someone would just let this man be the lead designer of a car company already. The M4 design is much more reserved in comparison, but its design is grounded in reality more than many of his others.
These images are quick mock-ups according to Saleem, with him saying they're “super rough.” If these are rough, we can't wait to see what a finished product might look like.
The front of the vehicle is where he took the most inspiration from the Touring Coupe, employing what he says is “one of the 50-odd front bumper design ideas I've had for a while now,” and combining it with the gold grille surrounds on kidney grilles that are vastly smaller than the stock M4's and better off for it.
The shrinking of the kidney grille allows for the intakes on the bumper to grow dramatically, which, in addition to the lip spoiler, makes the car look like it's hugging the road. The rest of the car design looks basically untouched, but it now wears a lovely shade of silver with gold accents, gold wheels, and a lower stance.
It's simple but does a great job of amplifying the areas BMW did well with the design while improving on others substantially. Unfortunately, from the looks of spy pictures, the M4 facelift will retain the massive kidney grilles, but thanks to designers like Saleem, at least we can dream about what could have been.
Keyword: BMW M4 Reimagined With Concept Touring Coupe Design Cues