BMW Designer Jacobo Domínguez Discusses Car Proportions and the Neue Klasse
Car and Driver reported that Jacobo Domínguez, a designer with more than two decades at BMW Group and experience with Rolls-Royce, focuses on proportions as the foundation of automotive design. Domínguez, whose background is in architecture, states that good design solves a function with elegance and creativity while maintaining a distinct human and emotional component.
When evaluating a new vehicle, Domínguez looks at proportions first. He estimates that 70% to 80% of a car’s visual appeal relies on its proportions, though technical precision must be paired with an emotional element to make the design memorable.
Architecture and automotive design share core similarities
The creative process in architecture and automotive design shares core similarities, according to Domínguez. Both disciplines require shaping an interior space to serve human needs, whether occupants are sitting in a room or a vehicle. While each field demands specialized technical knowledge, the initial problem-solving approach remains closely aligned.
Domínguez points out that brand identity guides the development of new models like the Neue Klasse. Designers must understand and reinterpret historical brand elements rather than starting from scratch.
Designers eliminate visual noise from exterior surfaces
The Neue Klasse platform marks a major technological shift for BMW, which required a clean and monolithic exterior design. For the BMW X5, designers eliminated visual noise by removing exterior plastic wheel arch cladding, air vents, and window frames while relocating door handles into the glass area.
Despite these clean surfaces, the X5 retains muscular rear shoulders and wheel arches typically found on sports cars. The front fascia reinterprets classic 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s BMW styling cues, incorporating a vertical shark nose, a horizontal black band, narrow vertical kidney grilles, and twin headlights that reference historical models like the 1970 BMW Garmisch designed by Marcello Gandini.
Unified front panels resolve aerodynamic differences across powertrains
Electrification presents both design freedoms and difficulties. For the X5, both electric and combustion engine variants share the exact same exterior design. Domínguez explains that the team resolved aerodynamic differences across powertrains by developing a unified front panel equipped with active elements that open or close based on aerodynamic needs.
Racing tape inspires headlight design
What inspired the distinctive X shapes in the new BMW headlights?
The X pattern in the optical units recalls the historical practice from 1970s racing, when motorsport teams placed adhesive tape over headlights to prevent glass breakage during track events.
Which historic cars serve as personal design inspirations for Domínguez?
Domínguez cites his own BMW Series 5 E28 for its rectangular proportions and vertical grille, alongside the 1930s Rolls-Royce Phantom II Coupé with Freeston & Webb coachwork and the Touring-bodied Pegaso Z-102.
How do designers ensure a vehicle retains its brand identity across different models?
Designers rely on historical brand DNA, ensuring that core proportions, signature front fascia elements like the shark nose, and athletic stances make the vehicle instantly recognizable as a BMW before identifying the specific model.
Keep reading