10 Cars With The Most Distinctive Grilles On Sale In 2024
Ask anybody what the most important aspect of automotive design is, and most will say it’s the vehicle’s face, or grille. This makes sense, as it’s the first thing you see when you walk up to a vehicle, setting the tone for the rest of the design and immediately letting you know if this vehicle is going to work for you or not. Some faces, like the Alfa Romeo Giulia, age gracefully and are immediately eye-catching when first seen, while others, like the BMW M2, are a little more of an acquired taste.
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Bold, distinctive, exciting; all of these adjectives are frequently used when automakers take a massive leap with their front fascias. Contrary to what we journalists and enthusiasts want to believe, these companies do know what they’re doing, and every design goes through dozens of sets of eyes, including many focus groups, before being finalized. These designs don’t just happen, and much care goes into them throughout the process to ensure they convey the emotion and feeling the company is going for. This is all to say that, while it’s easy to bash and write off a company for the grille decision they’ve made, sometimes you need to remind yourself that art is in the eye of the beholder.
The cars and the grilles selected for this feature were discussed by the CarBuzz writer and editor team. Design will always be a subjective topic, but we have done our best to evaluate each car for its evolution over time, taking design goals from the automaker into account, and weighing up the opinions, inputs, and comparisons from our team of experts. We’d love for you to get involved in our thread at the end of the article. for the purposes of this article, we looked only at cars sold in the US.
1 BMW M3/M4
In the interest of starting off strong, we decided to start off with one of the most controversial grille redesigns in recent memory: The M3/M4. When BMW pulled the covers off these models in 2020, the reviews were mixed, to say the least. The goal, according to the Head of BMW Design, Domagoj Dukec, was to create something “daring and confident,” and we feel the company passed that test with flying colors.
Expert Opinion
When BMW revealed the nose of the M4 (and later the M3), the unconventional appearance of oversized elongated kidney grilles seemed like proof that the automaker had lost the design plot. It justified the decision by arguing that the cooling demands of the S58 engine required such large intake openings, but there’s something to be said for the theory that BMW just wanted to go viral, if not for beauty, then certainly for impact. This grille did more free marketing for BMW and set it further apart from its traditionally restrained compatriot rivals than anything that came before, and as much as it pains most people to admit, the aesthetic has grown on most onlookers at least somewhat, to the point that the size of these coffin-shaped nostrils hardly even comes up in conversation anymore.
It’s in your face, it’s loud, it’s borderline obnoxious, but it’s also immediately recognizable, and somehow works with the extra venting and more aggressive stance both the models offer. Since then, we’ve seen these bold grilles expand to the iX and the XM with varying success, and for a while, it appeared every new BMW model would feature massive kidney beans. That may be changing, however, as new spy shots of the BMW i3 show the company moving in a different direction, one that may be a triumphant return to form.
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2 2025 Aston Martin Vantage
When Aston Martin reintroduced the Vantage in 2018, everyone was impressed by the car’s bold new lines that were much sportier than the Vantages of the past. One of the few criticisms of the car was its large “Hunter” front grille inspired by the Vulcan, which was a bit of a love-it-or-hate-it feature that we enjoyed. The company explained that the grille was made large to improve cooling, but given a mesh-like appearance that helped reduce front-end weight. A redesign for 2021 walked this back, going to a smaller, more traditional grille that seemed to fit the car better. Was Aston finally ditching the bold grilles in favor of something sleeker?
From the first glimpse you know the new generation Vantage is a game-changer… [its more muscular stance] is accentuated by a completely redesigned front-end featuring a 38% larger recontoured veined grille aperture, offering 29% increase in mass airflow for additional cooling… This distinctive front-end treatment is completed by all-new Matrix LED headlamp design.
Not if the 2025 Aston Martin Vantage is anything to go off of. This is the boldest Vantage we’ve ever seen, with a design inspired by models like the One-77, more power, and an improved infotainment system that finally brings the car up to speed with its competitors. The company says the grille is 38% bigger than before to routes nearly 30% more air through. It’s functional, to be sure, but it’s certainly not as elegantly subtle as Aston Martin is known for, and we’re excited to see how it presents itself in person.
3 2025 Ram HD
Ram has had some of the best-looking trucks on sale for a while now, with its light-duty models in particular sticking to designs that have served the brand well for a decade now. While we haven’t always been as fond of the designs of the 2500 or 3500 trucks the brand offers, we can’t deny that big and bold grilles on pickups are in and sell well, so it’s hard to argue with. Unfortunately, the 2025 HD Rams have taken this to an entirely new level that we frankly can no longer condone.
Ram once had the most simple and attractive heavy-duty truck, but the facelifted grille on the new HD trucks makes me ask, “Where do I plug in my charger?”
– Jared Rosenholtz, Editor-at-Large, CarBuzz
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First, the brand is now moving to a split headlight design, which is fine, but the grilles are now larger and feature many different slits across that make everything look a bit busy. It’s fine on most of the truck variants except for the above Rebel trim, where the design appears to have gone off the rails. The grille is all over the place, with slits going up, down, left, and right in a busy cluster that’s just a bit jarring. Hopefully, it comes off better in person, but this one has us scratching our heads.
4 BMW iX
Another car that has a schnoz so large it’s hard to see anything else is the BMW iX, whose overall design in general leaves a little to be desired. It’s not that the car is bad-looking, the overall shape is unique, and it certainly has futuristic vibes that work well with its electric nature. It feels that a few more months on the drawing board honing the shape could have done it well, especially when the grille is stealing most of the show.
Expert Opinion
The iX was BMW’s first modern mass-market EV, following in the footsteps of the also awkward-looking i3. Sure, it’s on the ugly side, but it’s also quite clear that BMW wanted to make a statement. This is not your average Bimmer, and it shows.
This isn’t even a vehicle that needs a grille, mind you, so it’s purely for aesthetic purposes. Sure, it houses some of the vehicle’s sensors, but there’s no reason these couldn’t be integrated into some other front design piece. There’s a lot of possibility for a vehicle like this, and we’re excited to see how more of the Neue Klasse styling is integrated over time.
5 Chevy Silverado HD
Love it or hate it, Chevy has been taking bold swings with its truck designs over the last decade. This has gone even beyond the brand’s trucks, affecting its SUVs, Crossovers, and even the Camaro, with futuristic designs that very often felt forced and a bit out of place. The brand’s heavy-duty trucks were particularly aggressive, and while we feel they’ve become more cohesive over time, there’s no denying they were a shock to the senses when they first debuted in 2020.
Expert Opinion
The Chevrolet Silverado HD’s grille looks like a ladder with endless rungs that just never allow you to reach the top. It’s big and bold – like the truck – which may work for some, but not for others.
There was a lot of pushback at the time, but the company was convinced it was coming from the peanut gallery instead of its customers. “How much of that reaction is from people who actually buy these trucks?” Hugh Milne, Silverado Marketing Manager told Autoblog at the time, “All of our research that we ever did on this, we’re talking to Heavy Duty buyers of all brands. This front end and this design over the top was one of our best-ranked designs.” All we can say is we’d sure love to see the designs that lost.
6 2025 Buick Enclave
The Buick Wildcat concept from 2022 was one of the most interesting and exciting designs we’ve seen come from the three-shield brand in decades. It was a gorgeous, low-slung 2+2 design with a stance reminiscent of a pouncing jungle cat, and we would have been happy if Buick put it into production just like it was. Unfortunately, that was never on the cards, but the brand did say it was going to influence all future Buick designs going forward.
Expert Opinion
The Enclave has a sloped hood that leads down to a rather large, gaping grille, which is a big departure from the more old-fashioned look of the previous generation. The new grille offers a striking look – an attempt by the automaker to make this SUV appear sportier and appeal to younger customers.
The company has been rolling it out on models across the world for years now, and although it’s a bold and instantly recognizable graphic signature for the brand, it occasionally looks oddly proportioned and gaudy on certain vehicles. Here in the US, the newest model to feature it is the 2025 Enclave, which now sports the face along with a host of other upgrades. The model is now bolder than it ever has been before because of it, yet it also makes the vehicle appear to want to swallow every compact car in its path.
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7 Tesla Cybertruck
Ah, the Tesla Cybertruck. Has there ever been a more controversial vehicle? Everyone you meet, enthusiasts and random passersby alike, has an opinion about this vehicle, and it often isn’t flattering. Some say it looks like a spaceship, others say it looks like a fridge, and even others say it looks like a drawing their 6-year-old came up with during a long car ride. Whatever your thoughts, there’s no denying the model gets people talking, and its bold front design with full-length LED headlights and massive windshield is unlike anything else we’ve ever seen.
While the Cybertruck doesn’t have a grille, it certainly has a recognizable face. Yes, it’s just a slab of stainless steel, but Tesla has succeeded in making a truck that you won’t mistake for anything else. We’re not saying it’s pretty, but perhaps a bit of disruption was necessary in the pickup truck space.
– Gerhard Horn, Senior Editor, CarBuzz
As our Editor-at-Large put it, “Does the Cybertruck even have a grille? Maybe Tesla forgot to give it one like they forgot to make it an actual truck.” Still, there are enough accounts on various social media platforms touting how unique and appealing it is. So, is it ahead of its time or just a science experiment gone wrong? That’s for you to decide.
8 Mitsubishi Outlander
As far as distinctive front-end designs go, the Mitsubishi Outlander is one that doesn’t get talked about enough. The brand’s “Dynamic Shield” grilles have been one of the bolder designs for years now, with the Outlander owning it much better than, say, the Mitsubishi Mirage. The grille is big, but not so big that it dominates the entire front of the vehicle, and the way the headlight design comes down to connect with the fog lights is exceptionally unique.
The Outlander’s grille isn’t unattractive, nor is it too bland that it simply blends in with a parking lot full of SUVs… but if you look at it for too long, it may start looking odd. Like when you repeat a word over and over and start wondering what it actually means. That being said, the brand is great at putting together a cohesive design that isn’t offensive and appeals to a broad audience.
– Belinda Anderson, Deputy Editor, CarBuzz
The chrome does feel a bit dated, and we’d like to see the company explore some more innovative materials or textures in those areas instead, but as far as the Outlander goes, it’s a cohesively designed vehicle that offers a lot of value for the price, still looking good even though it’s been on sale for a few years now.
9 Toyota Supra
While there are plenty of reasons to love the new Supra (sweet inline-six power, six-speed manual, RWD), one of the few reasons we have to criticize it would be its design. When Toyota first unveiled the FT-1 Concept all those years ago, we saw a low-slung GT that was bold and powerful. The face was much more intense than anything we’d seen from the brand in years, and we were excited to see where it was going to take it for the production model.
Expert Opinion
If the FT-1 Concept didn’t exist, the Supra wouldn’t be on this list. But it does, and now we’ll always wish that the Supra leaned more into that design. Still, the Supra does stand out from a plethora of sports cars thanks to this unique look.
Unfortunately, the production Supra is smaller and stouter than the concept, and the face has been modified to be less exaggerated, most likely to comply with crash regulations. While it still definitely looks good, without the drama of the original design, it just doesn’t look as breathtaking as we feel it could have looked. Is this to say we aren’t grateful Toyota brought the iconic model back? Certainly not, and we’ll continue to enjoy it until it goes out with a bang.
10 BMW XM
It may or may not be surprising that the last model on this list is another BMW, but what shouldn’t be surprising is that it’s the controversial XM. Only the second model to ever be released solely under the M brand, the XM isn’t the follow-up to the M1 that many were hoping it to be. Where many were envisioning the model to be some bold, cutting-edge sports car or GT, the model turned out to be a massive, gaudy SUV, with a face that looks right out of the Angry Birds video game.
Expert Opinion
The way in which the BMW XM unashamedly tests brand loyalists’ love of the BMW badge is unlike anything we’ve ever encountered. First, it smears the BMW M name, but then it goes and does so while looking like… well, that. In all-black, it’s possible to get away with only a few awkward glances from passersby, but BMW seem to attract attention to its oversized grille design with grille surround lighting at night and gaudy contrast surrounds during the daytime. No matter how much time passes since the XM’s unveiling and no matter how many times I’ve seen it in person, I’m never any less shocked and put off when I happen upon one in the wild.
It’s impossible not to look at the face of this model and not be reminded of one of everyone’s favorite barnyard animals, and that’s not a great thing to hear about your nearly $200,000 SUV. It’s surely bold, and this is exactly what the company was going for.
Sure, ideas like this push the boundaries of lighting design, but just because something is different doesn’t mean it’s better. The overall shape of the grille arrangement isn’t even that bad, but the proportions make it clear that BMW preferred controversy over cohesion. Making the kidney grilles the focal point of the front end does help the XM stand out from other SUVs, but it also reiterates the point that this whole vehicle as a concept is the furthest thing from the Ultimate Driving Machine. It’s more like the Ultimate Attention Machine.
– Sebastian Cenizo, News Editor, CarBuzz
But if BMW thought this was going to drive sales, it turns out the company was wrong, as customers aren’t responding well to it. Could an emergency redesign be on the cards soon?
