Let me explain why Bangle is "credited" for BMW designs.
He is a design chief. He is an advocate ("Page Ranking person") for designs. Inside the company (vs Board of directors, engineers, product planners etc) and also outside the company (press, general public, professional public etc.
But the press like to simplify things: and they credit design chief for a particular design although design chiefs usually do not design at all!!!
What does Bangle really do? He is kind a "art director" - having a design vision which is coordinated & confirmed by design strategists (marketing aspect of design) and he whole Board of Directors - they give a green light for a strategy & particular designs. He gives general directions to sub-design chiefs, and they pass it to designer teams.
All design processes are supervised & managed by design chief - usually not directly, but via sub-chiefs (brand design chief, exterior design chief, interior design chief, project design chief etc).
Design chief then present design proposals to Bod, and they pick "semifinalists", and then the work is done on semifinalists only (bigger scale models) ... all to finalists (usually 2, sometimes even 3). Full scale models of finalists are done, and BoD picks one - the final chose design that goes into production. Design chief at all levels advocates for designs, and influences the BoD decision. Then when work continues on a picked design only - then sometimes Bangle comes to check the progress - perhaps giving some suggestions on very final touches - many changes are done due engineering issues.
Eg. it's also Bangles task to convince BoD (or a certain member of BoD) designer solutions should prevail, and the others (like eg. engineers, product planners, marketing guys etc) should find their solution to fit the design - instead vice versa.
Individual designers are fully responsible for design ideas. Design chiefs can pick their favorite designs among proposals & advocate for these designs more efficiently & eagerly. They can even get some advices, but not a single line an a sketch or clay model is made by a design chief. Therefore design chief never takes cradit for design. They usually use words "we designed" or "our design", not "I" & "My".
Like Hussein said: lately BMW let designers of winning proposals to give interviews, be present in promo photos, be present at premieres etc.
Also: most innovative designers like A. van Hooydonk (7er, 6er), Anders Warming (Z4, Mille Miglia)), Chirs Chapman (E53 X5, 1er, xCoupe) - have all been promoted. AvH is a chief designer of BMW Automobile, Warming is extrior design chief of BMW, and Chapman is chief of Automobile design studio of Designworks.
Btw, BMW also push Bangle in the spotlights because he is so convincing & such enthusiast when it comes to design. He is the best person for advocating for designs & explaining the idea behind. He has got a huge charisma. He is kind a "rock star" of design.
