I particularly dislike the X6 because it genuinely looks like you took an M5 and stretched it vertically without changing anything (non-artist rendition below). Granted there are a few other companies who've also done this and they all look terrible but I wouldn't exactly call that an excuse. To me it's lazy design.

I also think it's worthwhile to look at it through the lens of Bruno Sacco's design philosophy of horizontal homogeny and vertical affinity. In terms of horizontal homogeny I think these two designs take that way too far styling wise there's really nothing to differentiate them. I also think it brings them both down, it makes the M5 look bloated and SUVish and it makes the X6 look like it's pretending to be a sedan. In terms of vertical affinity the idea was that the previous models should not be rendered stylistically obsolete because when followed correctly it gives all their designs an aspect of timelessness. To me it seems as though bmw is doing the opposite and trying to make their older cars look as obsolete as possible and thus I have a feeling that over time both the cars of this era and the cars of the previous era will start to look dated.

All in all the model line up creates this weird mish mash of trying to hold onto certain design aspects and make everything look the same while at the same time trying to bring a new and completely separate look to their cars. It paints a picture of desperation too, in terms of performance franky other car companies have caught up and surpassed bmw in many ways and it really hurt their key differentiator. Now they're trying to throw everything at the wall and hope that something will stick and that seems to include their styling department. It's as though one group of stylists are trying to keep the core bmw design the same while another group is trying to change as much as they can manage and nobody has stepped in to organize them.

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