The great German Photocopying machine!

The BMW M6 was launched a week or so ago. While journos and enthusiasts were going gaga over the 4.2s to 100kmph or finally getting round to accepting the 4.4 litre twin turbo monster that debuted in the M5, something else actually caught my eye and delighted me and it's not quite what you expect.It was the steering wheel. I know your natural reaction would probably be to LOL but that spindly looking, almost 80s throw back, three spoke affair is probably the first bit of design flair I have seen from BMW interiors in a long time. The Bavarian company which I am so irrationally fond of, has been rivaling the Porsche 911 design team for sheer laziness, when it comes to interiors. Look at the new 1 and 3 series interiors. You'd be a liar if you said you could easily tell which was which after a cursory glance. And all BMWs, with the exception of the aforementioned M6, seem to share the same steering wheel these days, that chunky three spoke with the aluminium U shaped thing in the middle.

It's not just BMW interior design. Oh no, the problem is more rampant than that. The £160K Mercedes SLS, £60K CLS and £25K C Class have steering wheels that can be interchanged easier with more aesthetic integrity than changing your brand of light bulb. Lest you think I am lampooning too long about steering wheels and will start talking upholstery and carpeting next, lets quickly segway to Audi. This is a brand that I think had reinvented itself over the last few years purely through exterior design and if I was

to be very specific, three magic words DRL or Daylight Running Lamps. These magnificent LEDs debuted on the R8, made its way to completely transform the A4 and were aped rather shamelessly by other car makers world over. Audi was suddenly cool and somehow couldn't stop churning out one masterpiece after another, like the lovely A7 whose beauty had nothing to do with DRLs but entirely driven by those proportions and that rear end (oh so raunchy!). Sadly Audi didn't take too long to jump the shark, beginning I think, with the new A8, when they realized they had run out of ideas and just copied the A7s front end and 'inverted L' headlamps. The new A6's front looked exactly the same and just when you thought, not again, they face-lifted the A4 to um..fit in. Suddenly, Audi, the brand which was 'it' in design, is back to the place it occupied for a majority of the 90s and even early 2000s when no-one apart from the most pedantic Audi nut could tell different models apart (see the new A4 and A6 in the pics)

Dear respected bosses at the German big 3, we need some imagination. I am not saying go the whole Bangle (I am actually fond of some of Bangle's designs but that is fodder for a different story) but at least provide some differentiation to your customers when they trade-up. How would I feel in my £60K A8 is mistaken for a £25K A4. Why would I aspire to one day drive a 6 series when I sit in it in the one showroom and I find it feels the same in my hands as my humble 116i hatchback. In the immortal words of Tracy Chapman, "Give me a reason!"

As I write this, the new A class was unveiled yesterday at Geneva. Handsome car (for once) but f*** me if the interior is not a dead ringer for the SLS. See the pictures and guess which one is which and mind u, the SLS is almost 10 times more expensive than the A Class)

PS: Yes, the title is Top Gear inspired when RH said that the Q5 was photocopied from the Q7 at 80% and JC insinuated that RH's parents must have a similar photocopier as well:)