Hope the design language isn't contagious... Cicada emerging from its former self? Side view better...
It's quite something when a manufacturer's marketing models have body kits too tasteless to sell for existing cars. I think there's a quite attractive car lurking under all that 'decoration' (sorry, should that be spelt 'flame surfacing'?). It was said that Bill Lyons who started Jaguar expected that if you threw a sheet over a Jaguar, you should still be able to tell that it was a Jaguar from its shape. That was probably true of BMWs once, but now it is the added-on styling tat that distinguishes them from other cars.
All designers want to do something dynamic, new and different.... Sometimes the direction is flawed... Yet, many times the old designers got it right... These new kids seem to be mostly lost... Somehow BMW/MINI got a fresh crop of wannabe Charles and Ray Eames furniture designers....
Agree that the front looks little cartoonish but overall I actually like it. This is supposed an over the top variant like the original. I actually give them credit for taking chances and allowing a little design for design sake. In the end it may not be for everyone (or anyone as these things go) but it is fun and a little bit mad which is great when, too often, the accounts get to overrule the designers.
As much as I've lambasted the BMW/MINI efforts, I have to admit i kinda like this one, save for the Alvin-and-the-Chipmunks kidney grille.