If you get the feeling that major car makers have been collaborating with streetwear designers more than usual lately, you’d be right. Virgil Abloh recently teamed up with Gordon Wagner, Mercedes-Benz’s design honcho, to reimagine the classic G-Wagen. Now BMW has done something similar (albeit less drastic) with an icon of its own. Meet the 2021 BMW M4 Competition X Kith.
Like Abloh’s Off-White, Kith is a streetwear brand known mostly for its footwear and men’s apparel. The man behind the brand, Ronnie Fieg, is both designer and BMW enthusiast. But instead of just setting to work on some new, BMW-inspired apparel, Fieg decided to try his hand at sprucing up the brand new 2021 BMW M4 Competition.
While his changes don’t do much for the M4’s attention grabbing grille, there are “Kith” details all over the car that might do enough to distract you from it. There is Kith badging on the trunk lid, as well as on the center console, on the seats, and a massive Kith logo (prefixed by the tri-color BMW M stripes) on the roof of the M4. There is also the word “Kith” emblazoned all over the backs of the seats and on the center console lid. An interesting touch.
The number of cars has been limited to just 150 units and will be available in three different matte finishes: Frozen Black, Frozen Dark Silver, or Frozen Brilliant White. The matte-red M4 pictured here was the design study for Fieg’s creation, but red won’t be part of the limited production run. Kith also worked with BMW to create a new logo. The classic roundel has been redone and now features a black Kith logo in addition to BMW’s M stripes.
No other changes have been made to the M4 Competition beyond the Kith visuals, which means you still get the same 500-hp 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline-six under the hood that sends power to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission. That formula feels starkly different from the other, much older Kith-designed M car BMW is showing off here.
BMW restored Fieg’s personal original M3 and turned it into a one off BMW x Kith E30. It looks like it just came off of the showroom floor, and the want is real. If we had to pick between a 2021 M4 with some Kith stickers on it and a brand spanking new E30 M3 with a kiss of Kith, we wouldn’t even hesitate to go for last century’s offering.
