There is a general consensus that the second-generation BMW X1 is a very good-looking car, mostly because (whisper it) the primarily FWD platform endows it with much nicer proportions than its predecessor, whose 3-series-derived RWD platform gave it an awkward long-nose, cab-backward stance that did not look good on a crossover. However, if there is one way in which the new model is not great is the detailing, which looks a bit fussy in places, making the whole car look cheaper than it ought to. One such example is the taillights, whose amorphous shape not only lacks distinctiveness, it actually bears more than a passing resemblance to a car less than half its price…
That car is the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport / ASX. Sure, the taillights differ in their graphics, which are much richer on the BMW, but the overall shape that narrows from the outside in, joining with a vertical line that runs right above the license plate is very similar on both cars. The irony is that the first-generation X1 had much more distinctive taillights that were instantly-recognizable as BMW lights. For all its faults, that was one aspect of that car that the X1 Mk II should have kept.
