When Max Missoni quietly joined BMW in late 2024, it could not have appeared like a seismic occasion. But for many who observe automotive design carefully, the transfer signaled one of the consequential shifts in Munich’s artistic path in years. The previous Polestar Head of Design, who helped form one of the acclaimed minimalist EV aesthetics of the last decade, is now tasked with defining the way forward for BMW’s upper-tier fashions and guiding ALPINA into its electrical period.
In a latest interview with Autocar UK, Missoni remarked that he’s “not right here to impress.” The road might sound understated, but it surely represents a quiet, but highly effective assertion. After years of polarizing debates over BMW’s design path, his appointment may mark the start of a calmer, extra assured strategy — one constructed on precision and proportion fairly than visible shock worth.
From Austria to Munich
Born in Austria right into a household of architects, Maximilian Missoni was surrounded by design considering from an early age. He studied on the College of Artwork and Design in Linz earlier than incomes his Grasp’s diploma in Automobile Design from the Royal School of Artwork in London, the place he was sponsored by Volkswagen. His skilled profession started at VW, the place he contributed to superior ideas such because the Idea R and the ultra-efficient XL1, two vehicles that showcased his curiosity in type serving goal.
After greater than a decade in Wolfsburg, Missoni joined Volvo in 2012, turning into a part of the group that reshaped the model’s id round a clear, premium Scandinavian aesthetic. In 2018, he moved to Polestar, the place as Head of Design he helped set up one of many trade’s most coherent new visible languages — understated, geometric, and emotionally clever. Beneath his management, Polestar developed from a startup offshoot right into a reliable design pressure.
In an interview with us again in Could, Missoni talked about how Adrian van Hooydonk reached out to him years again, however not with the intention of poaching him, however fairly to attach on design.
Now, Missoni studies on to Adrian van Hooydonk, the group’s Senior Vice President of Design. His remit covers all higher mid-size and luxurious courses — fashions above the three Sequence — and, maybe most intriguingly, the artistic path of ALPINA. He joins a reorganized design construction that additionally contains Oliver Heilmer, accountable for smaller BMWs and the M division, permitting every designer to domesticate a definite voice whereas sustaining a cohesive total id.
“I’m Not Right here to Provoke”
In dialog with Autocar UK, Missoni made it clear that his imaginative and prescient for BMW design isn’t about confrontation. “I’m not right here to impress,” he stated, emphasizing as a substitute a design language that communicates confidence by readability. He believes the subsequent chapter of BMW’s evolution ought to favor calmness and coherence, letting the standard of proportions and the honesty of supplies communicate for themselves.
That mindset aligns naturally with BMW’s upcoming Neue Klasse technology of electrical autos, a variety that can redefine the model each technologically and visually. Missoni described the Neue Klasse as a “second of rebirth” — a chance to return to the important values that after made BMW design timeless. He even recommended that some upcoming fashions may grow to be “future classics,” reflecting the identical sense of goal that outlined icons just like the E30 3 Sequence and the unique 2002.
The Rebirth of ALPINA
Alongside his BMW obligations, Missoni inherits the fragile job of reinventing ALPINA, the storied model that BMW formally acquired in 2022. For many years, ALPINA has occupied a novel area of interest — constructing refined, high-performance variations of BMW fashions distinguished by their clean energy supply, lavish craftsmanship, and understated fashion.
Till 2025, ALPINA continues to function independently from its base in Buchloe below present agreements with BMW. From 2026 onward, the model will probably be absolutely built-in into the BMW Group, a change that brings each alternative and threat. BMW’s design chief Adrian van Hooydonk has assured followers that ALPINA will retain its individuality, describing its future as “luxurious in a really refined manner,” fairly than a mere extension of BMW or BMW M.
“We at all times hope to do one thing particular with design,” he previous Autocar. “Design isn’t compensation for the shortage of one thing else. It ought to at all times be wonderful. We’ll give the ALPINA model a pleasant, holistic launch quickly, the place it’s all defined. You simply have to attend a bit longer.”
That assertion underscores the model’s repositioning. The ALPINA of tomorrow may not depend on bespoke engines or transmission tuning to outline its id. As an alternative, design and expertise will grow to be its new signatures. Missoni will probably be accountable for translating ALPINA’s mechanical soul into visible and tactile language — the way in which a floor catches the sunshine, the way in which supplies meet at a seam, the way in which a automobile feels composed even at relaxation.
Missoni’s problem is to make sure that design carries the identical weight of that means as soon as delivered by {hardware}.
The iX7 ALPINA 100 — The First Rumored Electrical ALPINA
One of many first exams of this philosophy may very well be the iX7 ALPINA 100, reportedly the model’s debut absolutely electrical mannequin. As reported by us, the automobile will construct on the next-generation X7 structure, delivering greater than 800 horsepower and focusing on a variety of roughly 800 kilometers (about 500 miles) on the WLTP cycle. It’s anticipated to grow to be the costliest BMW Group product exterior Rolls-Royce.
For the ALPINA model, this automobile represents a milestone — not solely its first step into electrification however an opportunity to redefine what quiet efficiency means. The mannequin will depend on design and environment, not engine word, to speak its presence. In some ways, it encapsulates Missoni’s strategy: understated energy, deep craftsmanship, and a way of emotional calm wrapped round new expertise.
Missoni’s arrival comes at a time when BMW’s visible id is below shut public scrutiny. Fanatics have referred to as for a return to cleaner types and purer proportions, whereas new generations of consumers count on innovation and digital intelligence. The brand new design management construction — van Hooydonk on the high, Heilmer on the core and M vehicles, Missoni on luxurious and ALPINA — offers BMW the pliability to steadiness each.
[Source: Autocar UK]
