I think mr fatbooty said quite a while ago regarding BMW and I think it's quite true, that most people buying them are rich people, or mistress of the rich people who buy it for the prestige, which are people who care nothing about the car or what's in it. And I think people who care enough don't have the money to buy them I would say the same for Benz and Audi. How come cars that continued to make the lemon list be selling like hot cakes? Because they are famous, and people buy them for their brand name. I think most exotic cars are fugly and simply a disgrace of anything functional. But that's only my opinion.

Sure it will lost customers like you, or people who prefer an older, classier design, but I think that good design should also be functional and fitting to its time (by that I mean, design is after all pop-culture). The BMW's slanted headlights and grills from the 80s annoyed the heck out of me when I was 10 years old. But I grew to love them. By designing the Bimmers to be slightly ahead of its time is a good approach. Sure, some of the elements are ugly, but look at Escalades. Now that's the perfect example of flawed design in every way you view it. But they sell. Because they hit their target audience. Of course Cadilac doesn't have much to loose, while BMW has the whole identity at stake.

And I think you are not BMW's target audience anymore, hence the annoying-as-hell design to you, and yet they are popular enough to be competitive with everyone else, including VW in German