The power of the badge on a car’s grille or bonnet has now become the key factor when choosing a new car today, especially here in the UK where we for better or worse seem more susceptible to a brand name, image and peer pressure than any other European new car market.
Another important element in creating a car brand in the 21st Century has become a strong ‘family look’ with styling cues that unite the smallest entry car in the range to the top-of-the-line model. For the past 25 years or so, this shared DNA has been most commonly expressed through the ‘face’ of a car, with the grille usually being used as the common-thread across the entire model range, from the smallest/cheapest, right through to the largest and most expensive model.
BMW’s ‘double kidney’ grille, with a split mirror-image chrome surround, has become one of the most iconic family faces that has been around for many years. This split kidney-shaped grille was first officially used by BMW for its new 303 model in 1933, the Bavarian manufacturer taking its inspiration from the earlier special coachbuilt Austin Seven-based BMW Dixis, created by the Ihle Brothers in their bodyshop in Bruchsal, which used a split grille shape. All subsequent 1930s BMW passenger car models (315, 327, 328, etc.), retained the double kidney grille shape, with the split grilles re-introduced when BMW car production resumed post-war (including the EMW models built in the former-BMW plant in the then-separated East Germany).
With the exception of BMW’s rear-engined microcar models in the late 1950s-early 1960s (Isetta, 600 and 700), all other post-war models have incorporated the famous double kidney grille, from the elongated and exaggerated version on the 1950s 507, through to the M1 supercar of 1979, and all of BMW’s current and extensive model range.
Astonishingly over the years, a number of other vehicles have also taken inspiration from the Bavarian brand’s grille – some loosely connected to BMW, such as EMW and Bristol – but others not. Here are a quartet of examples;