{"id":83245,"date":"2025-08-21T09:00:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T13:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=83245"},"modified":"2025-08-21T09:00:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T13:00:26","slug":"bmw-3-0-csl-hommage-4-series-grille-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=83245","title":{"rendered":"How the BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage Inspired the 4 Series\u2019 Big Grille Design"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has been over half a decade since the BMW 4 Series debuted with its flashy new grille. Love it or hate it, it\u2019s brought the brand into a new era \u2014 and likely, an entirely new demographic. Listen to the wrong people, and they\u2019ll insist that the move was essential for the brand to cater to specific markets. But as it turns out, the move to big grilles happened completely independent of niche, market tastes. In fact, it all started with the arguably one of the prettiest concept cars to come out of Bavaria\u2019s stable. The 3.0 CSL Hommage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It all started back in 2014, as the brand pitched, ironed out, and developed the 3.0 CSL Hommage. Following largely in the footsteps of the M1 Hommage<\/a> before it \u2014 even being built in the same studio \u2014 the car made its debut and left a serious impression on many people. Like the M1 Hommage before it, the 3.0 CSL Hommage too would eventually see production. But even before the limited-run 3.0 CSL was a reality, the Hommage made an indelible mark on the brand.<\/p>\n

Despite receiving huge praise, the Hommage R (a gussed-up version of the original 3.0 CSL Hommage) never quite made it into production. Ian Robertson, board member for Sales and Marketing at the time, began pushing for the car\u2019s grilles \u2014 which were leaving a noticeable impression on passers by \u2014 to move onto a production car.<\/p>\n

We Almost Had a Big Grille 8 Series<\/h3>\n

While Robertson was late to the train for the outgoing BMW 6 Series \u2014 and again, there was no production in sight for a real 3.0 CSL quite yet \u2014 the 8 Series debut was coming soon. \u201cGrilles were getting bigger on every vehicle at the time,\u201d Robertson said. \u201cI suggested that bigger grilles wasn\u2019t a race we needed to win. Instead, I felt that we needed something more like that of the 3.0 CSL Hommage. To make a greater statement of differentiation between the 3 Series sedans and 4 Series and our other coupes.\u201d While acknowledging he was late for the 8 Series, he recognized an opportunity for the 4 Series.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt made perfect sense not for just the M4 buyer,\u201d Robertson says, \u201cwho, let\u2019s face it, is not a shrinking violet, but on the entire 4 Series range.\u201d He has a point. Coupes have always been \u201cme\u201d cars \u2014 something of a statement piece, whether or not the driver is conscious of it. In the end, the 4 Series has proven to be a huge success. Although, it\u2019s uncertain how much of that work was done by the unique front end design. Consider; there are very, very, few competitors to the 4 Series these days. And very few that drive as nicely.<\/p>\n

Regardless, Robertson defends the grilles. \u201cIf you look at the strong sales of the M4 and 4 Series, then I\u2019d say it was the right thing to do.\u201d I would disagree and instead claim that the M4 and BMW 4 Series succeed by virtue of being the best to drive in the segment. But, regardless: if you hate the big grilles, you can blame the 3.0 CSL Hommage. Quotes and some information for this story were gleaned from Steve Saxty\u2019s excellent book, BMW By Design<\/a>. <\/em>We highly recommend ordering it or checking out his other BMW books<\/a>. They\u2019re full of unique photography, stories, and more that we can\u2019t reprint here. Check them out!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It has been over half a decade since the BMW 4 Series debuted with its flashy new grille. Love it or hate it, it\u2019s brought the brand into a new era \u2014 and likely, an entirely new demographic. Listen to the wrong people, and they\u2019ll insist that the move was essential for the brand to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":83246,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/83246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}