The head of marketing for BMW in North America says the Munich-based firm expected criticism when it first floated the idea of a logo change.

Earlier in March 2020, BMW debuted the refreshed roundel on the Concept i4, before confirming it had no immediate plans to use the new, flatter version of the logo on production vehicles.

Uwe Dreher, vice-president for marketing at BMW of North America, told AdAge he “appreciated” the dialogue around the logo tweak.

“When you touch your logo after 20 years, there are of course people who have an opinion on that. And to be honest that is absolutely alright. In this day and age, I even appreciate the dialogue,” he said.

“I would be surprised if we touched the logo after such a long time and everybody on this planet would say, ‘Yes that is beautiful, that is what it should be’.”

Dreher added there was no longer a need for a “complex” logo.

“When it comes to a world where most people, especially younger audiences, consume communication on a smartphone, then you don’t need a super-complicated or complex logo anymore, which is very, very detailed and comes from a time 20 years ago where we were proud to have a complex logo.

“Now you have these little screens and this complexity has no benefit anymore. It even limits us sometimes. That is why we simplified the logo,” he explained.

Interestingly, Dreher suggested the firm had not yet ruled out eventually using the updated logo on production vehicles.

“When it comes to the car production investments, it becomes very, very complicated. And we said, ‘Let’s go now for the [marketing] communication first’. We even can try how it works with some concept cars, and then we’ll make this decision in the future,” he added.

Original article from Car