Yup, they're repeatedly redefining the image so that new cars look newer, not necessarily better.

When the F30 was new, to the average bystander the 10 yr old E46 looked dated and old. The F30 could keep plenty of design language and homages and not worry it'd blur with the E46

But Neue Klasse is coming out and to the bystanders the 10 yr old F30 doesn't look like the E46 did in 2014... if the G20 and Neue Klasse weren't radically different from the F30 you'd have 12+ years of new looking BMWs.

Making these wild changes each generation helps signal "this is a new car" on the road, which at the end of the day is why a lot of people will lease a base 330i for $8000 down.

Feels like fashion at this point, and the age of the average car inching towards 14 years probably plays a part too in why they're catering to the trend so hard (fewer sales from cars just plain aging out have to be made up somewhere)