The Next BMW 4-Series' Big-Grilled Front End Appears In New Photo

If you were still clinging on to hope that the BMW Concept 4‘s giant grille might be toned down a bit when the car goes into production as the second-gen 4-series, we’re going to have to disappoint you.

Following on from a leak and spy shots of the new 4-series, we have another piece of evidence that as good as confirms the car’s use of the concept’s controversial front end with only minor changes. The above image from Cochespias shows what appears to be a partially covered 4-series, with its big ‘teeth’ on display. Several key details deviate from the concept - including larger headlights - so we can fairly be sure this is the car which will be heading to showrooms.

The rear, as shown by another new snap from Wilco Blok, shows a much more restrained rear end, which won’t generate anywhere near the kind of column lengths that’ll be focused on the front.

BMW has put a number of front end designs out there that could be diplomatically described as ‘bold’, including the giant-grilled 7-series and X7. The reason for the big-faced, brash design movement is widely seen as an attempt to court buyers in the Chinese market.

This is the first time we’ve seen the design treatment applied to a smaller car in the range, though. Also, it deviates from the aforementioned X7 and 7er by having the two separate sides of the grille blend in the middle, reminding us of Kia’s tiger nose design language.

Could you learn to love the way the new 4-series looks?