BMW Group at the 2015 Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este

[Mr Robert]

Metrosexual designers are just well-payed hipsters - they all look the same and they do the same thing, thinking they are special snowflakes...

 

[Sunny]

Designers always took care of their appearance, they just weren't metrosexual back in the day.

Good point. In case my earlier post was misunderstood, I was't picking on the designers or their attention to their attire - that is always probably been the case. My chagrin is at how much they have come to dominate BMW. It was an engineering lead company - likes of Paul Rosche and Gerhard Richter. Now, it has become a design lead company.

 

[Deleted member 25]

Mhh i beg to differ Sunny, they certainly have much more power now than before but they don't dominate, BMW CEOs are still engineers and i think it's the same for the board. It's more that in the days of Rosche-Reitzle and co they were completely castrated. If anything i believe that marketing is the leading force nowadays.

 

[Padi]

Meh, who cares what they look like. They've done a kickass job at BMW. So far no ugly cars, and hella many drop dead gorgeous ones that I can't stop drooling over.

This is of course only my opinion. I understand them who can't find themselves to like the e65 for example, and even though I despise the 2 AT and GT, and would never buy anything from the X or GT line, it's not because the designs are ugly, but more because of what they are.

Just enjoy to see some radical solutions on cars like these, that will never enter production. If you want to see a car that doesn't have any crazy features like this one, go look at production cars.

 

[jack]

I don't want to offend anyone, but these people are so metrosexual one could easily mistake them for being gay.
I also think these designers are being put on some sort of diet to make sure they all are equally thin and equally semi-bearded.

Edit: it's not BMW only, clearly. They are all like that these days. Would be nice to see someone again who doesn't care about the way he looks, like in the old days.

what you see is the trend to democratise design departments. the one guy "who rules them all", is starting to become a thing of the past. the "design topic" is becoming crowded and too complex for one guy. a lot of different experts a required to be world class.
the problem this democratisation brings with it, is that the place for radical thinkers becomes really small. with a lot of voices, a single one is easily muted.

chris bangle said in an recent interview, that car design is running out of DNA....

 

[klier]

chris bangle said in an recent interview, that car design is running out of DNA....

That's like saying every painting has been painted, or every song has been sung.

 

[jack]

Songs are a great analogy. Lets just say that car design is full of pop songs. they share an equal quality. highly paid producers are creating catchy tunes, some are even danceable and make your hips shake. but lets just pretend you have never heard hip hop - dont you want someone to invent it and give the world some "uh whats that, kinda cool" moments?

 

[Deleted member 25]

 

[klier]

I just saw that the 3.0 CSL Hommage is designed by Joji Nagashima, who also designed the E36, E39, Z3 and E90 exterior.

Edit; LOL, it's even his drawing in the picture above here. Only notice that now

 

[SDNR]

Good point. In case my earlier post was misunderstood, I was't picking on the designers or their attention to their attire - that is always probably been the case. My chagrin is at how much they have come to dominate BMW. It was an engineering lead company - likes of Paul Rosche and Gerhard Richter. Now, it has become a design lead company.

You sure are right, BMW has become design led ......and probably the design leader of the industry right now.

Shonguiz is correct, this fixation with design is entirely in response to the consumer market.

It's not only the auto industry that has seen this mainstream obsession with design ......since the 1980s, consumers have come to be more and more conscious about the styling of the products they buy. In a Western world obsessed with consumerism, where millions of people are feeling increasingly isolated and marginalised, companies market their products as ways to express individualism .....people are looking for their identities through the products they buy.

We see it all the time on this forum ......members become very tribal. The loyalty some people have to their favourite brands has more to do with an emotional attachment than anything easily and logically explained.

I agree with you, this emphasis on design .....or more correctly, styling, is often superficial but the market is impulsive and gets bored very quickly.

Most people really aren't particularly interested in the academics and technicalities of "serious" industrial design. Consumer products have become just another part of the fashion industry .....and sadly that includes car design (styling).

 

[SDNR]

What is the intent of these "Hommages?" Since BMW's design is more forward-looking and pretty much has disavowed any retro flourishes, does it have any role in any future BMW offering? For example, from the M1 Hommage, not much was seen in any BMW. Is it just for the designers to go hog-wild and interpret a classic for funsies and giggles?

This is something that has irritated me a lot about Mercedes in recent years. I find this retro stuff to be very unprogressive. It might be pretty but it's not what I consider to be "high culture" design.

People may not have always liked Bangle's designs ......but he was always forward-looking.

 

[SDNR]

BMW Hommage concepts

I always loved those two concepts.

Ι really like the motorcycle!

As for the green thing, they should just say a few good things about the original and call it a day.

It's great. A little bit retro but really cool.

 

[klier]

It's great. A little bit retro but really cool.

If you are a BMW fan and don't like the 3.0 CSL Homage there is something wrong with you, imho.

A first hand drive by Georg Kacher:

Like almost all BMW concepts, Hommage Mk III is a runner. True, the turning circle is seriously curbed by the fat 21-inch tires (265/35 front and 325/30 rear), and the speed is -- eight hours before the official unveil -- limited by hand signals to what chief minder Wolfgang Sauer and his team deem acceptable. Despite these restrictions, the first encounter with the stunning reinvented “Batmobile” deserves 10 out of 10 points on my personal show-car hit scale.

The doors open wide and the cabin is unexpectedly spacious, but sliding down into the cockpit requires extra care because the solid-looking carbon-fiber sills are actually wafer thin and the seat frame is made of fragile small-diameter aluminum tubes. You sit quite low in a not-too-narrow tunnel clad with dark manmade materials. Alloy-capped pedals as well as plenty of bright yellow stitching and piping offset the predominantly black environment. The shiny steering wheel is an intriguing mix of a race-car helm and motorcycle handlebars. Armed with numerous (nonfunctional) controls, the assembly protrudes from the dashboard on a delta-wing panel; it ends so close to the driver’s chest that you must angle your arms like a DTM racer.

Read more: http://www.automobilemag.com/review...pt-world-exclusive-first-drive/#ixzz3cZ2F7Mxs

 

[martinbo]

Wow, Georg Kacher is looking old all of a sudden.

 

[klier]

Yes, he is looking a bit thin. Maybe he had been sick or something, I hope he is ok!

 

[Human]

I will dedicate a room in my house to this concept. A yellow painted room with modern black alcantara furniture and thin plasma TV screens that showcase pictures of this car. I feel a lick urge when I see it.

 

[SDNR]

Cute dog. Funny.