{"id":84025,"date":"2025-10-20T17:43:03","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T21:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=84025"},"modified":"2025-10-20T17:43:03","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T21:43:03","slug":"bmw-coolest-taillight-designs-neon-to-laser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=84025","title":{"rendered":"The Coolest BMW Taillight Designs Ever \u2014 From Neon to OLED and Laser Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"

BMW\u2019s best designs offer something unique, tip to tail. At both ends, there\u2019s huge ability to leave a lasting impression on owners and onlookers alike: lighting. Today, we\u2019re talking about lights on the backside. From early experiments with LEDs to cutting-edge OLED and laser lighting, BMW has consistently turned what\u2019s sometimes an afterthought into a signature design element. Across generations and models, these lights have influenced trends and helped shape the brand\u2019s unmistakable visual identity. And five models did it better than the rest.<\/p>\n

BMW E60 5 Series LCI<\/h3>\n

The E60 5 Series, in period, wasn\u2019t really considered a looker. But time has been kind to the car. One highlight is the post-facelift taillight design E60 sedans received. New glass was a welcome change, but more eye-catching was the cool new LED turn signal design. Similarly, five \u201cradial light conductor rods\u201d further add to the futuristic look. It ended up being one of the most immediately recognizable light signatures on the road. Updates extended to the E61 Touring model, too. Arguably, it\u2019s a more unique design, but the sedan (simply because it\u2019s more common) lights are more iconic.<\/p>\n

3 Series LEDs \u2014 E46 and E9X LCI Models<\/h3>\n

BMW\u2019s taillight improvements on the E46 and E90\/E91\/E92\/E93 3 Series mirrored the 5 Series\u2019 changes. Like before, the brand brought high-tech (at the time) LEDs to a model that would hardly be considered \u201cspecial.\u201d In the E46\u2019s case, rows of LEDs replaced the old halogen look, immediately making the car look years newer than its predecessors. The E9X 3 Series models were significantly tweaked, adding LEDs and light bars. The E92 335is<\/a> is a particularly shining example, pulling much of the best OEM equipment available at the time into one devilishly good package. In all cases, the new taillights immediately became a selling point and attention getter.<\/p>\n

OLEDs \u2014 F82 M4 GTS and CS<\/h3>\n

OLED technology made its debut with BMW in the F82 M4 GTS. Similar to what the M5 CS did for headlight designs<\/a>, GTS OLEDs spawned a huge aftermarket as people started chasing the exclusive \u2014 and frankly, cool \u2014 OLED bubbles. OLEDs \u2014 Organic Light Emitting Diodes \u2014 not only provided a neat new 3D effect, they were also thinner than preceding LEDs. Furthermore, OLEDs provide more uniform lighting than regular LEDs, being \u201cextremely homogeneous in appearance,\u201d according to BMW. The automaker also highlighted the fairly obvious styling benefits. While originally debuting on the GTS, the \u201clesser\u201d CS model also got treated. Sadly, but perhaps not surprisingly, BMW never carried over the cool taillight tech to the M3. The auto sector is slow to adopt OLEDs in general; the lights are significantly more expensive.<\/p>\n

Laser Taillights \u2014 M4 CSL and LCI 4 Series<\/h3>\n

The GTS set a high bar for BMW\u2019s lighting choices on top-of-the-line halo models. As such, it\u2019s logical the brand opted for even more advanced lighting on the GTS\u2019s successor, the M4 CSL. \u201cLaser\u201d taillights were the result. The first time a production car utilized such technology, the laser taillights offered better overall visibility and, likely more noticeable, a truly unique lighting signature. Like many other BMW lights, the laser taillights feature a distinct \u201cBMW Laser\u201d lettering in the housing. BMW surprised everyone when it came time for the current 4 Series\u2019 mid-lifecycle refresh. The brand now offers laser units on every 4 Series, from the 420i up. Or 430i, if you\u2019re in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Neon Taillights \u2014 BMW Z8<\/h3>\n

One of only three cars ever to come with neon in the taillight assembly, the BMW Z8 relied on neon tubes for turn signals and brake lights. Neon offered quicker response (activation time), and BMW also claimed the lights would last the life of the car. That\u2019s probably of little consolation to the owners who have had to replace them \u2014 an owner\u2019s forum post from 2012 indicates a replacement cost of nearly $3,000! Of course, adjusted for inflation, that\u2019s around $4,288 in today\u2019s money \u2014 still less than an OEM BMW laser headlight costs. Regardless, the Z8\u2019s awesome individuality makes it cool enough to top our list of the best BMW taillights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BMW\u2019s best designs offer something unique, tip to tail. At both ends, there\u2019s huge ability to leave a lasting impression on owners and onlookers alike: lighting. Today, we\u2019re talking about lights on the backside. From early experiments with LEDs to cutting-edge OLED and laser lighting, BMW has consistently turned what\u2019s sometimes an afterthought into a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84026,"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-84025","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\/84025","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=84025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/84026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}