A new generation of BMW 7 Series is coming, which is the flagship of subversion and innovation.

Easy car original? In the recent 20021year, BMW returned to the position of the first luxury brand sales in China market, and also ranked first in the world for 18 consecutive years. The annual domestic sales volume of BMW is 846,237 vehicles, up 8.9% year-on-year; The global annual sales volume is 25,265,438+0,525 vehicles, up 8.4% year-on-year, of which 2,265,438+03,795 vehicles are BMW brand, 30,265,438 vehicles are MINI brand and 5,586 vehicles are Rolls-Royce, which shows that BMW has risen against the wind in the past.

Today, the new generation of BMW 7 Series officially unveiled its mystery, fully demonstrating BMW's scientific and technological innovation concept and new luxury realm. As the flagship, BMW 7 Series will continue to lead the future luxury travel with innovative technology and sustainable development.

Since the birth of 1977, BMW 7 Series has experienced six generations of evolution, each generation represents the highest standard of BMW cars, and relies on a number of innovative technologies pioneered by the industry. In this regard, we had the honor to interview Mr. Duke, the head of BMW brand design of BMW Group, and learn more about the new generation of BMW 7 Series.

Interview content:

Q 1: The design of the new BMW 7 Series is bold, and what impressed me most was the design of the upper and lower floors of the BMW crystal daytime running lights and the far and near beams. Can you describe the design of the new 7 series in one sentence?

If Mr. Duke uses one word to define the model of each car, BMW iX will be the "future", while the innovative pure electric BMW i7 and the brand-new 7 Series should be the word "privilege". We hope that customers can get what they want through the design of this car.

Because the users of this car want to enjoy exclusive and unique luxury and enjoy their important moments at the same time. So we hope that customers can get this sense of honor and get what they want. ?

Q2: As the flagship model, the new BMW 7 Series needs to show a sense of majesty and solemnity. Sport is the gene of BMW, that is, pure driving pleasure; At the same time, as a luxury brand, it also needs to show elegance and give people a quiet feeling. So how to choose and balance the three dimensions of majesty, movement and elegance in the 7 series? What is the principle?

When Mr. Duke designed it, compromise was not a good choice, and there was no need to make a choice. The brand BMW likes to find solutions in contradictions. For example, in the past, I was committed to giving consideration to high-efficiency power and power performance, and now I am committed to luxury and sustainability.

Through our bold and dignified appearance, we embody the luxurious and distinguished status of "people-oriented" large luxury car class. Elegance is more reflected in the interior, for example, you can see a lot of beautiful light and shadow, and use a lot of fine materials such as wood, cashmere and leather. The dynamics are reflected in driving performance, driving experience and human-computer interaction.

But it doesn't mean that the appearance only reflects the sense of solemnity, but that the appearance and the inside reflect different aspects. For example, there are many details in the appearance that show movement and elegance. This level of appearance reflects bolder design and extraordinary momentum.

Question 3: Although electrification and intelligence have brought breakthroughs, there are also uncontrolled overuse technologies. How does BMW balance these problems? What is the direction of innovation breakthrough, and have you done some necessary restraint?

Mr. Duke's electrification and digitization opened a new world, just like opening Pandora's Box. However, as a century-old car company, BMW has 1.2 million employees and 3 1 factory. Brands should be responsible for employees, brand history and huge fans. Our job is not only to promote the brand to keep pace with the times, but also to persist and not abandon fans.

Therefore, while we are electrified and intelligent, we insist on inheriting BMW's iconic features and brand values. This is BMW's innovative spirit and one of the reasons why people like us.

Of course, we have to consider many issues, such as how to ensure high quality, but also to reflect the aesthetic pursuit, but also to bring pure driving pleasure to BMW. We hope that while embracing a lot of opportunities brought by the new era, we will not lose ourselves and continue to strengthen the brand characteristics accumulated in the past 100 years.

Q4: We will see that many car designs are in line with users' current preferences. At the same time, some cars are trying more avant-garde designs, which will cause some controversy and discussion at present, but will be accepted after a while.

The subversive design style of M3/M4 oversized front grille and the brand-new 7 Series we see today seem to be obviously different from the current market style. Do you think BMW's design will keep this avant-garde style now and in the next few years?

Mr. Duke's design is closely related to psychology and ideas. Everyone, every customer, will subconsciously think about what others will think, like it or not after buying a car. If the design of this car is familiar, it will be more comfortable psychologically, and you don't have to worry about others pointing fingers. And if this car is avant-garde, you may worry about whether others will like it after driving it out. This psychological effect will affect many aspects, especially when buying a car, so expensive things, the purchase decision will be more cautious. ?

This is just the first impression and feeling when it was first listed. People's feelings are constantly changing. After listing for a period of time, seeing others driving this kind of car, the original strange and cutting-edge things will become familiar. This is a psychological and conceptual law.

But a luxury brand should innovate design and lead the trend, not follow the trend. Luxury brands need to take risks to become market leaders. When we design and take risks, we also understand everyone's psychological effects. Just listed, the feedback on social media may not be so positive. However, the replacement cycle of a car is seven years. After three or four years, this car has become the market leader. Everyone will have different ideas and realize that its outstanding design and unique selling point have created its leading position in the market, which proves that this car is a pure 7 series rather than other brands.

Q5: The design of the new BMW 7 Series is subversive, and anything subversive will not be smooth sailing. What major choices have you made in the process of subversion?

At the same time, in the last decade, the design concepts of competing products and BMW have a strong family-style design. However, in the new decade, after 2020, BMW took the lead in making the captain of the family car different. The previous generation of 7 series, 4 series, M3 and M4 are very different, and now a brand-new 7 series is introduced. However, competing products have not been particularly active in following the pace of BMW in the past decade. How to treat the difference in design concept between BMW and other competing products?

Mr. Duke, in the 1970s, 1980s and even 1990s, BMW's 3-Series, 5-Series and 7-Series designs were similar, and the family design was very strong.

We care about the customer's real needs, whether he wants a smaller 7 series or other products. Different types of customers and different levels of markets have different needs, which can be seen from market research. For example, X3 and X7 have completely different experiences from car scenes.

7 series users have different car scenes, ages, financial resources or occupations. The product experience that 7 series customers want is different from the sense of movement that M2 customers pursue. But no matter which product it is, we all hope to bring customers the happiness of BMW, make them feel that this car is what they want, and let him get what he wants.

What we pursue is not that every car should imitate a higher-level model, but miniaturization, but that the design essence of this car and this type of car should be embodied through the different design of each car.

Today, every customer knows what products he wants and what expectations he has for them. For example, in China, some people just got a driver's license and bought the 7 series directly. Others want to buy a luxury car, but they don't want it that big. They will start with the 1 series, and there are all kinds of situations.

When designing, we don't want to enlarge or shrink, we want to do people-oriented design. We listen to what different types of car owners want, and then decide how to achieve it through design language.

The same is true of the new 7 series, which reflects the pursuit of "privilege" by car owners at this level. 5 series are different needs, which may highlight the feeling of elegance. Every car is designed to meet the needs of customers, not to change. Series 7 offers the possibility of pursuing bolder designs. Car owners have spent so much money on this class of cars, hoping to get their money's worth and express their outstanding taste.

Q6: How many versions of the design will your team produce before the final mass production of the new 7 Series is confirmed, and how long will the whole design process last? What is the biggest difficulty in the design of the new 7 series? What do you like best about the new 7 series?

Mr. Duke, whether it is a top luxury car or an entry-level car, the design process is the same, and the details of each car are constantly improved and polished, not because it is a large luxury car.

As the flagship product of global sales, the new BMW 7 Series should fully combine the different laws and regulations of different countries and the needs of consumers.

The design process of the new 7 Series is the same as that of all other BMW models. About four or five years ago, we conducted early research to determine what values to convey, conducted research and interaction in major markets, and determined its basic direction as the starting stage of the whole design process. After that, the concept car built internally has undergone numerous changes and modifications, feeling what different feelings it will have, and considering the feasibility of design and production, while ensuring reliability and high quality.

As for my personal favorite, I like the bold and avant-garde appearance of this car very much. Because this is our flagship model, the management, including the board of directors, hope to avoid too many risks on such a heavyweight model. However, we still took risks and boldly announced our design ideas. We hope that through such bold design, more customers will be brought into the luxury feeling of large luxury cars.

In addition to the appearance, we also like its interior, not only leather, but also cashmere as the top expression of luxury. You may think that cashmere is not as clean as leather, and you won't understand its value for a while. However, in luxury hotels, the most luxurious experience may not be leather sofas, but high-grade fabrics. This is also an innovative measure that I like very much.

Q7: The rear entertainment system of vehicles has changed obviously. The new BMW 7 Series is the first BMW brand to adopt the giant screen of BMW suspension. What are the considerations and difficulties of this design? Compared with competing products, what is its core competitiveness in design? ?

Mr. Duke, whether in China or German market, competing products always exert their strength on the front row entertainment system, and the screen is very large, even running through the whole front row. In the next few years, artificial intelligence and autonomous driving will not completely replace the role of drivers. Manual driving is needed in many scenes, and front passengers also need their own entertainment functions.

On this basis, we also pay attention to the demand of this level of vehicles and rear passengers for entertainment systems, and this demand needs a big screen to achieve. The new BMW 7 Series is longer than the previous generation and has a longer wheelbase, which provides ample space for the big screen. We create a comfortable, spacious, personalized and interactive space for the rear passengers through the BMW suspended giant screen and the armrest touch screen on the door.

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