Max Missoni on BMW, Alpina and the Neue Klasse future

When BMW announced Max Missoni’s appointment, Top Gear likened it to Succession. The comparison is less far-fetched than it first appears.

At 47, Missoni is an RCA graduate whose CV includes lengthy spells at VW and Volvo. More recently, he was Thomas Ingenlath’s key lieutenant as the Polestar project took shape. BMW design director Adrian van Hooydonk is not leaving – for now – but the recruitment of Missoni, alongside the promotion of well-regarded former Mini design chief Oliver Heilmer, gives BMW a formidable two-pronged design team.

Heilmer, to recap, is responsible for the firm’s small and medium-sized cars and the M Division. Missoni, on the other hand, oversees the styling direction of the 5 Series and models above it, while also being tasked with revitalising Alpina, the much-loved cult tuning brand BMW bought in 2022.

Top Gear spoke with Missoni during a preview of the BMW Concept Speedtop, the Villa d’Este Shooting Brake special intended for limited-series production. He joined too late to exert much influence over it, or over the Neue Klasse models that will reshape BMW’s full range in the coming years. Instead, as is typical in the motor industry, he is looking beyond that point to consider BMW’s next chapter – a task with few equivalents as the ascent of AI makes the shift to electrification seem like child’s play.

In his first interview since joining BMW in Munich, Missoni is candid about the road ahead. He also addresses the responsibility he feels towards a marque willing to provoke BMW’s highly vocal online fan community.

TG: How challenging is it to step into a role like this?

MM: Honestly, it’s a challenge. I was reflecting on it and thinking, ‘it gets better… you know more than you did before so it’ll be easier’. Yet, at the same time, everything becomes bigger. There are greater responsibilities. The reality is that you are never completely ready. At a large, established company, one challenge is learning a new language, even when it is my mother tongue. The other is getting to grips with the methods, systems and processes. But I have moved beyond all of that.

Where are you in that process now?

It is now about applying your own experience and instincts, and attempting to shift things a little. The larger the organisation, the more difficult that becomes. You have to arrive with your own vision and tell people, ‘listen everyone, this is what I would like to do and how things should be’, while everyone is thinking, ‘well, why should we change?’ But we understand one another now. I know where the team’s strengths are, and once those are identified, it becomes easier to place people where they can flourish.

You must have liked BMW’s direction, otherwise the role would not have appealed. Or was that irrelevant?

That is an interesting question. I believe it mattered. I need to be able to believe in something – in the philosophy. Adrian [van Hooydonk] speaks about refining the design, returning to BMW’s essence while bringing it up to date. I find that appealing.

Consider the emerging car companies and how alike their formulae are. That is why it is so important to draw on the emotional signals of a brand such as BMW while continuing to modernise it. Neue Klasse does that particularly well. Rather than literally referencing the past, it translates an emotion.

I really want to give the Neue Klasse cars the stage they deserve. We can talk about what’s next after that

Your remit covers the 5 Series upwards and Alpina. That is the part that especially interests me.

I am every bit as interested as you are. Things had progressed some distance in one particular direction, but we made a few changes. I am very confident Alpina will be an exciting journey. When we explored the brand and all its idiosyncrasies, we found so many wonderfully whimsical aspects to uncover – not only in its technology and performance, but also in its design and storytelling. Many new brands find it difficult to get noticed or heard because they lack history or relevance. Alpina may be small, yet it still forms an emotional connection.

Polestar and Alpina have some similarities when you look at their origins.

There are certain parallels, although Polestar’s history was far shorter. Looking back, the freedom we enjoyed there was extraordinary. We chose not to use any of the traditional design codes; it was a genuinely blank sheet of paper. Alpina is not like that, and I am looking forward to drawing on its heritage. BMW, too, has such a rich past that it should not be overlooked. Quite the reverse, in fact.

Do you feel the weight of that responsibility?

The contrast was immediately apparent on social media: I moved from a company where the response was, ‘hey guys, you’re new, good luck’ to one that inspires such strong emotion in both directions. People have forceful views. That was unfamiliar to me. People were contacting me directly on social media to say, 'OK, listen up now, I’m going to tell you exactly what I think…'

We are all people trying every day, just as we do at smaller companies, to do the right thing, you know? It is easy to forget that because [BMW] has existed for so long and has become a symbol of something.

You are following figures such as Chris Bangle [BMW’s design chief from 1992 until 2009]. It may not be a smooth journey.

He operated on another level; he was highly conceptual. The overarching idea was his territory, and he depended on the team to turn those broad ideas into reality. But the 6 Series from that period is unquestionably a future classic, if it is not already one. I actually remember Chris [Bangle] coming to the RCA in London to deliver a speech when I was studying there. There was plenty of criticism at the time, and we were eager, competitive students.

We said, ‘OK, we’re going to give him a really hard time and ask all the unpleasant questions'. Yet we all left the auditorium saying, ‘That’s it! He’s a visionary, that’s the only way to do it…!’

After all, he initially intended to become a preacher…

[laughs] What can I say? Being in a comparable role now feels rather surreal. That will never stop being the case. You need commitment. It is also worth remembering that the company was far less complex then than it is today, making this an even larger undertaking. So yes, I am acutely conscious of the emotions involved and of the responsibility that accompanies them. Anticipating the feedback and connecting with people are exciting aspects of the role. I look forward to that conversation. But I will admit that I am quite sensitive. And I do not enjoy being shouted at.

Have you set out a Max Missoni mission statement?

Oliver and I are developing our design vision. It is an interesting situation because, for the first time, we cannot simply express our individual visions; we also need to align them so the brand has coherence. We are in the midst of that process and it is going well… although this is aimed at 2030 and beyond.

Have the foundations of your approach been established?

We have now defined the ‘why’ – essentially, the values guiding us. That applies within BMW, as well as M, which Ollie leads, and Alpina. They can depart from the core to a certain extent, but each must remain clearly identifiable as a BMW. The next level concerns the codes we give the team so they can turn those values into products. We are currently defining and communicating them. Naturally, the machine continues to run in parallel.

When will we see your philosophy applied for the first time?

Companies generally follow a particular cadence of concept cars, so you can certainly expect that. But honestly, I really want to give the Neue Klasse cars the stage they deserve. We can talk about what’s next after that. The design language has undergone dramatic changes, with controversy and some pain along the way, but that bravery is part of what makes BMW so lively. Now we need to be courageous and make our own move, even without that feedback.

How difficult is it to define the ‘future’ in practical terms?

Autonomous driving has not arrived within the timescale we expected, while cars have been prepared with all those sensors… much of the design language reflects an understanding of what was expected to come. What is interesting about the generation we are defining now is that these things really will happen. Then there is AI’s impact too. I would say there has been a rehearsal for something we cannot ignore. We have discussed it for so long that there is a danger of an anti-climax, but it is now our job to motivate everyone… ‘listen, this is going to happen so we better be ready.’

Don’t be different just to stand out. Improve something and you’ll be different

So what exactly must we prepare for?

I think what is approaching will create an even closer relationship between our personal devices and the car, and it will affect people’s behaviour. You will become even less patient than you are now. We have built so much complexity into our systems that one major task is simplifying them while continuing to provide every service. The car will anticipate your preferences, much like social-media algorithms do today.

By then, we will have become accustomed to the Panoramic Vision head-up display that is about to arrive…

That is a bold move. Everyone in the industry was discussing it… should we do this? Expanding the head-up display with that degree of fidelity is a courageous decision for a large company, despite all its procedures and complexity. In fact, that is one reason I am here. I think it captures BMW’s essence and reconsiders it from the ground up. It is hugely impressive.

As you put it, modernisation without unnecessary complication.

We do not need to do things differently simply for the sake of difference. We need only make them better, and if that resolves enough problems, it will naturally allow things to be different. That is the crucial point. Don’t be different just to stand out. Improve something and you’ll be different.