Its sad, the 5 has always been strong , Every generation. When i saw the spy pics and saw them not opt for the rhino nose, I thought they were continuing the tradition of the solidity in terms of 5er design.
And I do believe this was the intention.
But the designers were given an impossible task. The managements decision to make the 5er ICE and EV f#cked up the design of the car. The stance was lost in this process.
Hate the EQ line as much as you want but it actually frees up MB designers to design proper looking ICE cars. It’s probably more expensive to do it that way and in the long term more of a hard transition when they go all electric.
With all that said they could still do. Better job despite the work order of a combined platform.
For eg this back seat has no excuse, and so does many other iffy features ( the lower character line, the f#cked up kink etc)