During a recent roundtable with Domagoj Dukec, Head of BMW Design, at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este, CarBuzz learned that the just-revealed 5 Series and its first-ever all-electric alternative, the i5, both drew on BMW's Italian design heritage for inspiration.
The i5 was especially tricky to style with grace, as the all-electric platform makes the sedan roughly two inches taller than a G30 3 Series. Dukec says that this made it "a big challenge" to come up with something elegant.
"But I think we achieved [what we aimed for], that the car looks almost more Italian than the BMWs before," said Dukec. "This [Italian styling] fits because we have so much history with Italian designers having an impact on Neue Klasse, and of course, with the 5 Series, there were always Italians involved."
The 5 Series, and BMW as a brand, are hardly the first cars you think of when you think of Italian automotive design. So we investigated Dukec's remarks and found an astounding history of Italian flair in BMW products.
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