Chris Bangle quits auto industry.

[Deleted member 25]

What do you think of the E38, E39, E46, Z4 and MK1 X5 that were born under his leadership ?

 

[Deleted member 25]

No Bad Blood’ With BMW, Bangle Says​

In a brief telephone interview on Thursday morning, the designer Christopher E. Bangle said he left BMW “with no bad blood.”

Speaking from California, where he was attending the TED conference, Mr. Bangle said his departure did not stem from differences with executives or others at BMW. “It has nothing to do with how the company works inside or with me,” he said, adding that he is not going to another car company. “It was a moment I have been planning for a long time.”

On Tuesday, BMW made the surprising announcement that Mr. Bangle would step down as head of BMW Group design, a post he has held for over 16 years. Adrian van Hooydonk, currently head of BMW design, will take Mr. Bangle’s position.

On Thursday, Mr. Bangle said that his successor had been groomed for a long time and that he was emotional about his departure. “There are tears of love,” he said.

Mr. Bangle, 52, is forming his own company or studio, as he calls it. He is not talking, he said, about a simple industrial design firm. “I don’t want to just let my name be pasted on a lot of stuff,” he explained. He may build on relationships to the business, academic and museum world and is interested, he said, in changing larger ideas. “It will have to do with the way I think I am perceived, that I’m a reference point for creativity, vision and courage and I can bring that to people in lots of ways.”

One way might be in print. Mr. Bangle has many sketchbooks. “I may have a book in me, too,” he said.

He also is interested in publicizing GINA, his vision of a radical reinvention of auto design and manufacture, with applications to other areas. “GINA is a huge thing for me and I may be a missionary in that sense,” he said. “I see GINA as part of much wider thread of an ethical argument” about design and industry.

His legacy, he said, “will be to elevate the dialogue about car design beyond just a prettiness issue. At the end of the day my contribution may be to get car design over the hump in terms of the acknowledgment of its importance.”

‘No Bad Blood’ With BMW, Bangle Says - Wheels Blog - NYTimes.com

 

[LaArtist]

What do you think of the E38, E39, E46, Z4 and MK1 X5 that were born under his leadership ?

Wasent he involved in other things like fiat during that time?

And i really doubt that he was the head of design for BMW back then..

I actually REALLY doubt he had anything to do with those cars..

If he did..

Then

 

[Deleted member 25]

Chief designer since 92 guys, that was reapeted and repeated again & again, that's why some are pissed.

 

[LaArtist]

^he joined BMW in 92
so you are telling me he joined as a cheif designer?

Source please

 

[Deleted member 25]

You are doing it by purpose right ?

Here is the official statement from the First post of the topic directly from BMW

Born in the USA, Christopher Bangle, aged 52, has been Head of BMW Group Design Development since October 1992.

 

[LaArtist]

^lol im actually not..

Wow im amazed direct entry as a cheif designer..

This makes his career at BMW abit more digestable to me..

Still dont like him for 6er and 7er.. those cars are a crime

 

[SCOTT27]

Part Two.

The whole issue that brings about the antethesis against the era of the BMW design revolution is truly down to the fact that surely something as radical and unorthodox should have failed?

That was the general feeling when we first showed the Z9 GT Concept in Frankfurt 1999. At one end of the BMW pavillion we have the beautiful Z8 and the other we have the Z9 . Of course the Z8 was going to be a more popular attraction which also included the E46 M3 Concept Car and the European launch of the BMW X5.

So you have generally typical BMW tradition and then something that seems to have assimilated this tradition but metamorphised into something completely radical. The media were caught off guard displaying both shock and awe of the car that lay before them. Even more so when we took it further saying the Z9 lays the foundation of the next generation of BMW models , ultimately the media made it's own decision.

Fast forward to 2001 we unveil the 7er in July 2001 and there is hardly praise at the first pictures there was a lot of negativity , even more so to the official premiere at the IAA Frankfurt 2001 on September 11, The press were not very positive but people from design led backgrounds such as architecture and interior thought the car was a very fresh approach to a premium luxury car . Unfortunately later that day the mood diverted to elsewhere where cars seemed unimportant.

As the media got more critical , so did BMW enthusiasts and traditionalists the mood was of from classical premium elegance to avantgarde distortion. Everybody said it was bound to fail.
Then came another radical approach from BMW for the Detroit AutoShow in January 2002 - The BMW XCoupe Concept all with striking lines as BMW speak commenced with Flame Surfacing , The XCoupe was in fact a product of a think tank established by Bangle @ BMW to determine what is the future of such a segment. BMW XCoupe's DNA is very much found within today's BMW X6 Sport Activity Coupe which is a way of determining how can we progress on the SUV?

By Spring 2002 we then unveiled the BMW Concept Car CS1 a small , premium car that was beginning to take shape within BMW as the 1er .
Had the Rover Brand taken off instead of faltering we would never have had the 1er . The 1er was BMW's response to the growing C segment in Europe and by all accounts the car has been exceptionally successful for BMW.

By this time the E65 7er was inserting itself into other markets , then it hit China and the car was very successful there , as owners typical above fifty in european and American markets were very much in their late twenties , early thirties , early forties from industrial backgrounds and developing technology and IT fields were very impressed with the new 7er.
I remember previews just before Christmas 2001 in Shanghai , Beijing and
Hong Kong brought a larger majority of non-typical owners to traditional 7er owners. The iDrive and technology related to their fields as did the longe like feeling of the 7er cockpit was also a hit with the asian market.
So much so that the current S-Klasse Mercedes-Benz has a similar dash layout because of the 7ers success in non traditional markets.

In Summer 2002 it was then the anticipation of the Z3 replacement was building . Here was the opportunity to offer a complete recharacter of a typical Roadster , The media proclaimed the Z3 was not really up to the job and then the Z4 arrived , Striking and devilishly handsome it was and still is ahead of it's time , even today with a new one about to enter the market. The E85 still has the ability to turn heads it looks like nothing else out there it is a modern classic BMW it just looks powerful and very modern even to today's standards.

By April 2003 ironically launched on 1st of April the E60 5er appeared and after it was announced it was not an April fools joke then the gloves came off , The anti-Chris Bangle campaign began to gain momentum.
Everybody wanted BMW to fail , they wanted to see that the arrogance BMW used to defend the new styling direction would come back as karma.
Even our competitors had their moment when surely nonone would by a BMW and turn to our brand?

Alas now BMW sales were rising exceptionally well and after the roll of launches at the IAA in 2003 - BMW X3 - a new segment for BMW - The launch of a premium then compact SAV , A return to the Larger Coupe format with the BMW 6er Coupe and Cabrio , and of course building towards 2004 with the advent of the BMW 1er , Sales were rising and the competition were dropping.

The BMW premium market strategy was born out of the climax of the Rover climax - Here it was determined that the idea to offer Rover as a Premium entry level brand before it's future fell apart .
To offset some of the cost in dissolving Rover , BMW reluctantly sold the Land Rover operation.
The BMW Premium market strategy was introduced to quickly expand the BMW brand to offer premium models in all segments that would establish a direction developed for Rover but be completely be under the BMW Brand.
To establish further how this can go the next generation of BMW's had to be individual each with a visual persona fortunately BMW had several members of their design department who were very much of that medium.

The typical BMW look had become stagnant it was not fresh and was always open to interpretation by other manufacturers. The cars were as admitted by senior BMW Board members all the same car except for different sizes. The interesting idea behind the design leap was to really enhance the BMW brand as something more than just sporty dynamic cars .

Today the legacy of Chris Bangle has brought something else to BMW and that is recognition although negative in the early years.
BMW has identified with people involved with design fields , BMW also use their DesignWorks studio for other areas of industrial and Product design.
BMW is recognised in architecture , art , interior and product design , Bangle has literally opened BMW up to the world and is seen as a less might corporate structure with no blood only petrol running through it's vains.

It should have failed ? How could something radical , unthinkable have great commercial success and recognition?
BMW completely Defy the conventional choices and now are competitors are now beginning to realise that they have to change direction after relying on the same idea for so long, they had cold feet because surely the new BMW direction was alien to what a premium manufacturer should be concentrating on?
And they stood by waiting , waiting for the end but as the product expansion gathered pace and BMW sales rose eventually dethroning the premium segment leader Mercedes-Benz .

Over this time BMW has never failed at it's primary objective , and that is to provide cars that seperate and identify with enthusiasts by being completely individual from it's competitors.



The competition had to unwillingly devise a new direction to reflect their product expansion in which we are seeing a new direction of style for Mercedes-Benz beginning with the GLK-Klasse , Mercedes interpretation of the Compact SAV segment , whether the new direction will offer a complete symmetry with BMWs design revolution remains to be seen , but so far the media comments seem to be picky on certain detail points. Mercedes have come to learn that the same sausage different lengths philosophy is no longer viable for the premium segment , Audi stick to the BMW formula of the nineties but eventually there will be the time they have to adapt. Because it will be become stagnant and eventually boring.

The Lexus formula is something completely different because there is nothing to seperate or indeed identify Lexus from the competition.
it is like a jigsaw of design cues from other competitors.

So now many are expecting a new direction to take BMW into the future , with some rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of a return to the "One Sausage different lengths philosophy" .

Now as we look to the future, we return to what was said on the back of the beginning of the (then) new BMW design revolution - "The End is just the beginning".

 

[Deleted member 25]

I was expecting a "but" part scott since Chris finaly left.

 

[Sunny]

I am just glad he left after Z4, else we will have all sorts of dumb asses here saying, "hey, look BMWs already look good".

 

[coolraoul]

Part Two.

So now many are expecting a new direction to take BMW into the future , with some rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of a return to the "One Sausage different lengths philosophy" .

Now as we look to the future, we return to what was said on the back of the beginning of the (then) new BMW design revolution - "The End is just the beginning".

Could someone explain to me the "one sausage" thing? Is it absolutely impossible to design beautiful Beemers who are different from each others?

When I say I don't appreciate the post-99 Beemers, i don't say I absolutely want BMW to have ONE design with different sizes. I just say that I don't appreciate the way these cars look, and prefered the older ones.

It doesn't mean that what bothers me is that all BMW are differentiated now. It has no relationship at all. I don't regret BMW's similarities in the past, I regreat their perfect proportions, sporty stance, driver oriented cockpit.

So please, stop saying that a design change would necessarily mean the return of the one sausage thing!


Concerning Bangle himself, I wanted to add that I admire him for having started so many discussions. He sure did put BMW design in the spotlight and ensured that nobody could be let cold by these cars.

It was a completely insane free publicity for BMW and gave them, that is true, a very avantgardistic image, thing they did not have at all in the past.

Like someone once said... In good or bad I don't care, as long as people talk about me...

He didn't let people indifferent. That is one very important thing in terms of design!! So nobody could say he failed completely.

You like his work or you don't, it doesn't let you cold, and in that way it managed to provoke a reaction, an emotion in you. With that, he achieved a big part of what he wanted.

For that, I have to say... Kudos to you, Mr. Bangle!
And I sincerily wish him good luck.

 

[EnI]

Wow im amazed direct entry as a cheif designer..

This makes his career at BMW abit more digestable to me..

Still dont like him for 6er and 7er.. those cars are a crime

Yes, Bangle came to BMW in 1992 - directly to Design Director spot. Just shortly after he was promoted to Director of Fiat Centro Stile (Fiat's design studios). So, Bangle came directly from Design Director of Fiat Group spot to BMW Design Director spot.

Dr Reitzle (he was BMW Chief of R&D at that time) wanted a charismatic person with huge motivation abilities - since BMW design department was completely in disarray after its Chief Claus Luthe was convicted & imprisoned for killing his junkie son. So, a strong person was needed. Especially since BMW was preparing to acquire other brands, and discussing different design strategy for BMW brand - so they needed someone who would be able to manage all of that. Bringing fresh wind, new ideas, new elan. And Bangle's reputation in the industry was already quite notorious at that time. Ritzle convinced him to come to BMW, and so he did. Bangle was working for Fiat for 8 years - only being Design Director for few weeks before coming to BMW.

Fiat Coupe was the only car ever penned by Bangle. He also penned interior of some not really important Opel Concpet car from 80s (Concept Junior), and was in Alfa Romeo 145 design team (but not credited as car's author).

So, under Bangle supervision cars like E39 5er, E38 5er, E46 3er, E46/7 Z3, E53 X5, E51 Z8 were designed. Yet at that time the design strategy for BMW cars was different. The new one was set in 90s - but set for launch with E65 in 2001. Previewed by Z9 Concept, and later by x-coupe.

But primary task for Bangle was to rebuild the design department, and find a design language for the new design strategy (avant-garde).

As you can see the E65 had o flame surfacing yet - that design language was really implemented after Reitzle was gone. Premiered by GINA Light Concept in late 1998, and based on that Concept Z4 was designed - and so were the other cars like 5er, 1er, X3 etc. Mind the master-mind behind flame surfacing was Bangle himself (he tried to implement such styling to Fiat / Alfa cars before), yet the master-designer for flame surfacing has definitely been Anders Warming (Gina, Z4, Mille Miglia 2006 Concept) - he is now Head of Exterior design BMW Automobile.

Bangle will still work with BMW as a design consultant - and his studio also cooperating with BMW design studios on some specific projects.

But with Bangle gone the BMW design departments are difinitely losing something important: a charismatic leader with huge authority. He's been such an inspiration to many young designers.

Btw, that Bangle interview by TAXI Scott posted few pages ago is worth of reading.

****

Btw, Adrian (van Hooydonk) confirmed the new line of upcoming BMW designs would combine excitement with sophistication. Great combination. Eg. pre-modern BMWs were sophisticated but not that exciting, modern BMWs were exciting but not sophisticated, while post-modern (upcoming generation) combine both worlds. Expect design elements from M1 ommage & CS concepts being implemented into new designs.

OT - Audi chief designer confirmed new Audi cars would feature hexagonal single grille (as seen on A1 & A7 Sportback Concepts), while design strategist for MB Cars said MB would follow new future design trends - more organic & soft & round shapes / lines.

 

[MikeJ]

let me tell you: you don't know how i feel at all, sorry...

What I meant was that I know how you feel about people repeating the same thing over and over again. The rest was simply reflection on the general level of discussion on this topic, not aimed at you in particular.

 

[Sunny]

Could someone explain to me the "one sausage" thing? Is it absolutely impossible to design beautiful Beemers who are different from each others?.

Do you have an example of a company that does that?

 

[PanterroR]

What I meant was that I know how you feel about people repeating the same thing over and over again. The rest was simply reflection on the general level of discussion on this topic, not aimed at you in particular.

OK, Mike, no problems at all man!

 

[Zafiro]

Chris Harris from Drivers Republic and his reflections about Chris Bangle and BMW.

So farewell then Chris Bangle: your capacity to cause controversy was limitless and your powers of persuasion were legendary.

On reflection, I think the motor industry will be a much, much poorer place without Chris Bangle who, after 17 years styling cars, has decided to go and ruffle feathers some place new. What Bangle did better than anyone else was challenge conventions, and not in the most basic sense because any fool can do that through simple parody or juvenile, extreme behaviour. Defecating on an E46 M3 may be controversial but it is ultimately meaningless. No, the brilliance of Bangle -and whether you like his designs or not, the man has to be considered something beyond the ordinary- is that he sparked a debate that raged for the best part of a decade, and all the while he transformed the controversial into the commercial. As we all debated the relative hideousness of his first 7-Series, then vomited at the early press shots of the current 5-Series, BMW sold more-and-more cars.

When history judges Bangle, it would do well to remember that fact. He was employed to design products in order to make them sell, and in the time he was in charge of the way BMW products looked, the company grew faster than at any other point in its history.

And Chris Bangle was a marketing man’s dream. Did you ever see a Bangle shape that worked in standard trim with the smallest wheels? Quite. Just think how much extra revenue has been raised by people speccing a 520d and feeling obliged to tick the ‘Sport’ box -because that was the only way to make the thing look acceptable.

There are some weird stories circulating about his methods, and how he engendered an almost fanatical following from the people who worked for him. It was said that the 6-Series was chosen from numerous potential shapes in a random eeny-meeny-miney-mo episode, and given the way some people feel about it, you might believe there’s some truth to the tale. Personally, what all of his designs have done for me is improve with familiarisation. Not age, familiarisation. Even the original 7-Series has a lumpy-charm to it, and I now think the E60 5-series is a fine looking car, especially as an estate with the crucial ‘sport’ accoutrements. In fact I now even like the cooking version: I found myself admiring a 535d touring SE the other day, and thinking it a rather dignified looking vehicle, even on tiny wheels. When it was launched in 2004, it struck me as being moderately horrid.

Perhaps this was the Bangle-trance? It happened to me several times: first the 5-Series, then the 1-Series –which I now think as a three door is about as funky as hatches get- and also the 6-Series. In fact the only Bangle design I’ve never really warmed to is the current 3-Series which, to add weight to the theory, is the one I probably thought the most acceptable at launch. I now think it looks anonymous next to other models in the range. Then again, both iterations of the X5 have been staid but very well proportioned: in fact despite disliking large soft-roaders, I think a new X5 on big wheels represents the ideal SUV-aesthetic. A sort of vaguely polished-turd.

chris Harris' column

 

[martinbo]

^ Ja well, it kind of backs up what I've been saying all along. But hey, I'm not Chris Harris.

All I do know is that, under Bangle's watch, BMW spat out the two finest looking M car siblings I can remember that looked as good in 4 door guise as they did in 2 door guise.

The very essence of hotness that is the E90 and E92 BMW M3. I still, to this day stop dead in my tracks when I see either.

 

[klier]

^ the E60 M5 was an even bigger eye-opener, as far as I am concerned.
The E90 looks great but needed the facelift for it's special looks, and the E92 is a coupé so it automatically looks better than a sedan...
The M5, however, is virtually unchanched since launch and still manages to be jaw dropping.

 

[Baer1904]

Mr. bangle gave bmw a forward looking design! BMW leads! See all the copies, they came years later! Thank you chris!

 

[rollo]

Mr. bangle gave bmw a forward looking design! BMW leads! See all the copies, they came years later! Thank you chris!