Former BMW design chief Frank Stephenson, who has been called "one of the most influential automotive designers of our time" by Motor Trend and designed the original X5, Ferrari F430 and FXX, Maserati MC12, McLaren MP4-12C, P1, 676LT, 570S, and 720S, has completely torn into BMW's new design language, starting with the new 4 series. It is very rare for a highly regarded designer to rip on his colleagues. It is only done when the design is so repulsive and repugnant that there is no way to sugar coat things. I.E., it is not politically correct to do what he did unless the offender (BMW) is being offensive.
He stated that "the huge grille is unrefined", the design is "difficult to understand", and the grill "doesn't go with the proportions of the rest of the coupe". These grills have been widely regarded as pig nostrils, which is not a good thing. In addition, he states that "it's weird that the positioning of the front license plate doesn't seem to have been considered when designing this car" and that "You can't forget about the registration plate".
He goes on to say that he regrets that BMW seems to have nearly eliminated the company's iconic Hofmeister kink and says there's "a lot happening" at the rear. Overall, he states that "BMW tossed the baby out with the bathwater."