M3/M4 M3 Spy Pics Part II

[wltsm]

Tine, great info there, now I understand a lot!

 

[Giannis]

nice post Eni. BTW, who is Hooydonk?

 

[Zafiro]

nice post Eni. BTW, who is Hooydonk?

the designer behind for instance 6er

 

[LaArtist]

he is a very cruel man.. for giving that car such a sad face

 

[EnI]

nice post Eni. BTW, who is Hooydonk?

Adrian van Hooydonk, 41, has been a designer at BMW since 1992 and president of DesignworksUSA, the Californian design studio of the BMW Group, since 2001. In 2004 Adrian van Hooydonk was named a head of the BMW automobile brand design. From 2001 -2004 Van Hooydonk was a president of DesignworksUSA, the Californian design studio of the BMW Group.
The Dutch designer developed the exterior design of the current BMW 6 Series and 7 Series among other projects.

Here are all the BMW Group design chiefs:
Gert Volker Hildebrand (MINI)
Ian Cameron (Rolls-Royce)
David Robb (BMW Motorrad)
Adrian van Hooydonk (BMW Automobile)
Ulf Weidhase (BMW M and Individual).
And the big boss: Christopher E. Bangle (Director of BMW Group Design).

 

[warot]

yeah, i kind of got carried away but I think my comments on the front bumper are accurate. It's the actual bumper with some camo.

I wouldn't be too sure about that... BMW actually has its own department for camo... yes you heard me right, they design the camo too.

But then again, this is so late and we all feel that the PR is coming soon, so this might be it.

 

[Deutsch]

Have I heard about design being TONED DOWN? No, I haven't.

But I can recall Hooydonk said once (just after 7er & Z4 came out) they wanted to push envelope as much further as possible in this generation, and the next generations would see a consolidation / refinement in design.

Also Bangle's design plan is: 1st generation revolutionary - 2nd gen. evolutionary - 3rd gen. revolutionary - 4th gen. evolutionary - ...

And do not forget the current strategy: having 7er in one pole, Z4 in the other. Taking design cues for other models from both poles (biger models more from 7er, smaller more from Z4), while 3er was planned to be a perfect balance of both poles. That was the strategy from the begining. It was revealed by Bangle at Z4 debut.

Do not epxpect less radical design features, but more "refined" ones - eg. less chunky bangle butts, less goofy - droopy headlights, but still some controversial features.

When main emphasis of phase 1 was general shape, phase 2 will focus more on details.

Hooydonk said in one interview: "BMW is ready for new design revolution." Some models will become less radical and more evolutionary (eg. 7er, Z4, 5er etc), while some new models will take over the radical shape & skin (V5, X6, etc). Some will enter their evolutionarry phase, some in their revolutionary one.

So, it's more appropriate to talk about evolutionary refinement & consolidation of design (that was planned), and not about toning down.

We will also see more of excesive flame surfacing (convex - convcave surfaces separated with sharp creases).

IMO in the future we will see more refined (in details) BMWs, yet still visually challenging ones.

Toned down = refined. Same thing. Thanks though.

 

[Porsche Guy]

I wouldn't be too sure about that... BMW actually has its own department for camo... yes you heard me right, they design the camo too.

But then again, this is so late and we all feel that the PR is coming soon, so this might be it.

I'm sure it's the front bumper for the new e90 M3. The camo is very remiscent of that on the M6 during testing. Have a look for yourself. The front bumper's camo even has the same holes as that used on the M6. Also, it's too well done/intricate for the entire bumper to be camo and why would they have camo on top of more camo? Look at the area around the headlights, it's perfectly symetrical and completely different from the regular 3 series. And there's even that new grill, this is way too much work for just camo.

Also, I don't think we're going to see the official production M3 sedan PR for a couple of months. The car isn't far enough along in testing. Remember how much testing the M5 did before its PR. It took FOREVER! I think we're going to see more of the M bits (quad exhaust and the car's unique M rims) in testing before the PR.

 

[PanterroR]

I fear the the front bumper on the new M3 won't be so good looking...