Domagoj Dukec talks about social media criticism

[Mani59]

A tiny article mentioned on AutoCar UK was that they recently asked Domagoj Dukec about the social media criticism BMW received when they unveiled the i Vision Circular concept...

Water off the back for BMW

Reply what you will to BMW’s tweets, but it won’t hurt design boss Domagoj Dukec’s feelings. “We’re used to getting at first a lot of reactions,” he said of the social media storm following the reveal of the i Vision Circular concept. “But we’ve already proven with previous concepts, such as the i3, that anything we do has real thinking behind it. When we did our first SUV, people said ‘what is this bulls**t?’, but now everyone is doing SUVs.”

Source: https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/n...ience-and-more

Image: https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/n...r-seat-ev-2040

[Bunnny]

I hope he gets hit by a bus.

[SteveinArizona]

Originally Posted by Bunnny

I hope he gets hit by a bus.

While I would love to see him gone...I wouldn't like to see him get hit by a bus.

Ultimately...BMW can hire whomever it wants, retain whomever it wants, and design its cars as it likes. We, on the other hand, can exercise our right to buy a BMW or a car from another car company. BMW, with Dukec, is driving many of us away.

One heck of a business plan...drive away your most ardent admirers.

[Wolfman’s Brother]

Classic, beautiful shapes are timeless and have broad appeal. The jacked up front end on the M3/M4 brings none of those adjectives to mind.

They’re a business that made a business decision.

OK.

But it’s ugly.

[charlie_m]

Originally Posted by SteveinArizona

While I would love to see him gone...I wouldn't like to see him get hit by a bus.

Me neither .... I still hold out hope that someone at BMW realizes the mistake and cans him.

[nerdogray]

I spoke to an SA and just happened to mention my distaste for Dukec, and the SA seemed genuinely offended, jumping right to the defense with how well sales numbers are doing. But there do seem to be a great deal of people that actually like his style. Polarization is happening everywhere. Tastes great, less filling.

His attitude and style just grind my gears to the core, though. I'm glad I am older. One just finally gets weary to the point they look forward to getting to take that final rest. Let the world burn.

[Germanauto]

I think there is so much toxic negativity on social media that people in positions of power like this guy choose to ignore it all completely (even if the criticism is legitimate as in this case).

BMW is no longer the small focused automaker we grew up admiring, it's become another company too big for its own good where decisions are made exclusively by arrogant MBAs at the top.

At the end of the day, when sales figures, profit, and share price are all that matters; these people feel averse to criticism. Who are we to rain on their parade? All we can do is vote with our wallets. I did exactly that. If BMW no longer wants to produce BMWs, I'll find my modern interpretation of BMW elsewhere.

[Germanauto]

Originally Posted by nerdogray

I spoke to an SA and just happened to mention my distaste for Dukec, and the SA seemed genuinely offended, jumping right to the defense with how well sales numbers are doing. But there do seem to be a great deal of people that actually like his style. Polarization is happening everywhere. Tastes great, less filling.

His attitude and style just grind my gears to the core, though. I'm glad I am older. One just finally gets weary to the point they look forward to getting to take that final rest. Let the world burn.

I've learned that dealerships really could care less about consumer complaints, especially within the realm of product feedback. As long as they are selling cars and making healthy profit, they are happy. If you say "E90," the overwhelming majority of employees at a BMW dealer won't even know what you are talking about. They've probably been working at the company for 2-3 years tops.

I know a couple old school BMW guys who've been in sales for several decades, but nobody else cares about the brand in the way we do.

[snareman]

Best grab a new BMW Dukec hasn't gotten his design hands on before they are all contaminated by him.

[BobBMWX3]

I am new to BMW...Did Dukec design the new FY22 X3 LCI changes? Interested because I came from Infiniti to Jag and now to BMW. The G37 and E-Pace both had designs that I liked. I actually choose the E-Pace over the BMW at the time because of the design. I was transitioning to the SUV market because the wife wanted to "feel safer". With the new LCI design, I got interested and made the change.

[SteveinArizona]

Originally Posted by BobBMWX3

I am new to BMW...Did Dukec design the new FY22 X3 LCI changes? Interested because I came from Infiniti to Jag and now to BMW. The G37 and E-Pace both had designs that I liked. I actually choose the E-Pace over the BMW at the time because of the design. I was transitioning to the SUV market because the wife wanted to "feel safer". With the new LCI design, I got interested and made the change.

I don't know if he designed it but he would have been in charge of the design.

[540iSUP]

Originally Posted by Germanauto

I've learned that dealerships really could care less about consumer complaints, especially within the realm of product feedback. As long as they are selling cars and making healthy profit, they are happy. If you say "E90," the overwhelming majority of employees at a BMW dealer won't even know what you are talking about. They've probably been working at the company for 2-3 years tops.

I know a couple old school BMW guys who've been in sales for several decades, but nobody else cares about the brand in the way we do.

I learned this the "hard" way. I loved BMW because my father raised me on them, and Toyota. They were always reliable, fun, and stylish. We had a pretty good relationship with our local dealer and SA because my dad bought quite a few vehicles from them and would have them do the major services while we took care of all the normal stuff. When it was my time to buy my own BMW I was truly shocked at how little anyone at the dealership I went to knew about BMWs. They could tell me about the newest models, but anything other than current options, they had no idea. I felt like I was trying to sell them their own cars.

[V-Eight]

It's easy to get criticized by enthusiats, but we must all remeber that in the past a lot of awful concept were made from BMW, without seeing them into production.

Think about the x-sport concept, or the Gina for instance, not so nice right? Along them there were others stunnig ones; 3.0 csl hommage and Turbomesiter concept for example. Not all we see goes into production fortunately and....unfortunately.

What we're seeing here is just a vision which doesn't reflects in any way a production model. It' s an "idea" of what, I assume, the future 2 series active tourer could be.

I don't like it, but I don't see anything scaring in proposing concepts, and if it won't be a concept, no matter, I'll buy something else.

I'm a BMW enthusiast, so is all my family, and we criticized the new front grill when the vision 4 series appeared 2 years ago. I still don't like it, but I understood the concept behind it, and they answered to something I strongly needed, as I didn't liked the similarity of my M140i with the other common 1 series M sport versions. So they made something clear "right for me"; the new M3 front which is unmistakable different compared to a common m340i. That's why I've ordered one.

I prefer to see maybe controversial concepts rather than seeing a frozen company. In the recent past BMW has shown a vitality, speaking of design, that was extremely needed after years of immobility after Chris Bangle's era.