Autocar confidential: Sticks and stone for BMW, Hyundai's resilience and more

Our reporters have been talking to those in the know all week. This is what they learned

In this week's Autocar confidential, we speak to BMW's design boss about social media criticism, find out why Renault needed an all-new brand for its mobility effort, and more.

*Water off the back for BMW*

Reply what you will to BMW’s tweets, but it won’t hurt design boss Domagoj Dukec’s feelings. “We’re used to getting at first a lot of reactions,” he said of the social media storm following the reveal of the i Vision Circular concept. “But we’ve already proven with previous concepts, such as the i3, that anything we do has real thinking behind it. When we did our first SUV, people said ‘what is this bulls**t?’, but now everyone is doing SUVs.”

*Why mobility is separate for Renault*

Why did the Renault Group have to create an entirely new division in Mobilize? CEO Luca de Meo revealed that it did so to make it easier for other companies to co-operate, be it sharing technology or jointly investing in development projects. “There will be a lot of opportunities, and this is the best way to show that we’re open to it,” he said.

*Not your typical MPV*

Dacia boss Denis Le Vot is seeking inspiration to categorise the firm’s new Jogger: “I’m interested to see if anyone can find us a new name, because we believe that it deserves one of its own.” Not only that, but Dacia might need a new name for the Bigster concept before it reaches production, too. “Even internally it isn’t settled,” Le Vot said. Why not drop us a line with some suggestions?

*Chip shortage? What chip shortage?*

Have you been waiting ages for your new car? If so, perhaps consider a Hyundai. The company’s European boss, Michael Cole, said it hasn’t been “dramatically impacted” by the ongoing semiconductor shortage: “Of course we have lead times, but customers aren’t experiencing severe delays.”