just thought that this would be an interesting read


From this morning'w WSJ

BMW's Chief Designer
Enjoys Newfound Respect

Bangle's Curvy Style, Initially Slammed
By Critics, Fuels Trend
By NEAL E. BOUDETTE
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
January 12, 2006; Page D4

DETROIT – Trashed by critics just a few years ago, BMW AG chief designer Chris Bangle is experiencing a pleasant reversal of fortune at this week's Detroit auto show.

Mr. Bangle, a 49-year-old American, was pummeled by BMW fans and auto journalists after the German car maker restyled its flagship 7 Series sedan in 2001 with sculpted curves and contours. The car's bulbous trunk was ridiculed as the "Bangle butt," and thousands signed an Internet petition imploring BMW to "Stop Chris Bangle."

But at this year's North American International Auto Show, designs resembling Mr. Bangle's work are cropping up in cars from several BMW rivals, including Toyota Motor Corp.'s new Camry and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class from DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes division, both of which sport raised trunks.

"Suddenly, everyone is trying to do the kind of styling for which the auto journalists criticized the BMW group so loudly," BMW Chief Executive Helmut Panke crowed at a dinner with reporters here. "You look at the Camry rear end and you see another 7 Series. It is not the 'Bangle butt' anymore."

The new LS 460 from Toyota's Lexus brand also has a profile that almost exactly follows that of the 7 Series, while models from Nissan Motor Co.'s Inifiniti brand have moved to a modernist styling.

In an interview, Mr. Bangle said he is pleased BMW's work is being emulated, but, "I don't dwell on these issues," he said. "In this business, you don't spend a lot of time looking in the mirror. You try to figure out what curve is coming up."

With other car makers following the course Mr. Bangle set, some of his critics are starting to come around, especially now that the new 3 Series sedan has been launched to favorable reviews. The car, which is BMW's top-selling model and was redesigned last year, has a look related to that of the 7 Series, but with less-curvaceous headlights and taillights and fewer sharp creases and contours.

For some customers, the toned-down, modernist look of the 3 Series and the fact that more and more cars are adopting similar designs have made Mr. Bangle's work less jarring.

"The new 3 Series has actually tempered some of my animosity toward Mr. Bangle," said Tony Yokam, a software salesman in California. "He's done a really good job there." This year, he traded in a BMW 5 Series for a Carrera S from Porsche AG, in part because he didn't like Mr. Bangle's new 5 Series.

But Mr. Yokam said the 5 Series is growing on him now that more and more cars from Infiniti, Lexus and other brands are hitting the road with similar styling.

Educated at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, Mr. Bangle worked at Fiat SpA before being named BMW's first non-German head of design, in 1992. His overhaul of BMW's look was part of a bid by the company to accelerate growth after a management shake-up in the late 1990s.

BMW hoped more modern and differentiated designs would pull in younger buyers, but the criticism overshadowed the cars.

For the first few years Mr. Bangle's cars were on the market, it was unclear whether the redesign was working. BMW's sales soared, but largely because it added new models. In the U.S., sales of the 7 Series declined after a good first year.

But last year, BMW tweaked the 7 Series look, and the model's U.S. sales rose 12% to 18,165 cars, according to Autodata Corp. Last year, with the new 3 Series earning favorable reviews, BMW reported its best year in the U.S.

 

lol, how people like to lie to themselves...

 

While it's too early to say for sure as far as the general car buying public goes, it's pretty safe to say that as far as most of the auto press and the auto magazines go, the author of this article is wrong....and I say that while having a lot of respect for the Wall Street Journal. I-Drive copies, especially, like Audi's MMR and Infiniti's " Drive Controller " in most cases get the same thumbs-down reaction as the I-Drive itself. While I realize that some CL members like the I-Drive ( genearch, in particular, comes to mind ) and I respect that, take a poll of almost any 10 car enthusiasts and you will find that probably 8 or 9 of them dislike it.

And even over and above the I-Drive, the Bangle designs show other major weakness as well. Styling, of course, is a matter of personal taste...I won't criticize it is someone likes or dislikes " angel eye " headlights or the Bangle-trunk lid. It's not my part or anyone else's on CL to say whether someone should or should not like a certain styling ( although most people would agree that the Jaguar XK8 or Ford GT are beautiful and the Pontiac Aztek and Toyota Echo are butt-ugly ).

But new BMW weaknesses are not just limited to Bangle-influenced features like styling and I-Drive either. Example: Examine the body sheet metal, interior solidness and quality, general fit-and-finish, and shut the doors on the old 5-series and compare them to the new one....you will see just what I mean. And then of course, there are the new German electronics, which I won't get into again....enough has been discussed about that.

BMW, of course, will sell continue to sell to those who just want a vehicle with the blue-and-white propeller on it in the driveway and really don't care about comparing the new ones to the old ones, but like it or not.....and here is where I think the author blew it........there is no denying that BMW in the last few years has turned off a lot of the people that helped it to become the world's most ubiquitous sports-sedan manufacturer. They are also getting sales now by going the same road that Mercedes travelled and putting insane amounts of power in their high-performance cars.....the new M5 500 HP V10 perhaps being the best example....but these cars are very expensive and few can afford them.

 

Bangle's work is not postmodern art, it's quintessential fugly.
I am hoping this fad goes away. The sooner the better.

The new Camry is fugly, the new S-class looks much worse than the
previous one. Just because people are copying it does not mean it
is good.

Bangle should not be praised. It is BMW engineering that should
be praised for being able to survive this grotesque styling.

 

Like it or not, the Bangle designs are THE influential drive in auto design right now. When the 7 came out, then the 5, then the 3- I was angry, almost disturbed at what they had done to the simpleness of BMW design. Where are the straight lines over sedately flared fenders? Where is the conservatism of design that says "yeah, I'm not going overboard with weirdness because I don't have to?".... But now, after seeing these new designs in the flesh and on the streets for a while now, I have to admit that the new 5 and 3 are good looking distinctive machines. The 7 still seems not quite right, but the 3 in particular looks good (except for the Japanese taillights..). The interior is a bit disappointing, it is all to obvious that the stylists had more say than the ergonomics department - which is not typical BMW. They are not perfect and I still love the looks of my E46, but the Bangle style is quite definitive of the direction of cars to come. And really - it has paid off for Toyota - the new Camry looks great, and the LS460 is a beatiful car - hopefully the next 7 is a rip-off of the 460, because Lexus did the "Bangle style" perfect. The author of this article is right on.

 

I don't think the LS 460 follows the 7-series 'exactly' by a long shot. It has its own unique design, influenced by the LF-S, except for the toned-down Bangle butt.

That said, I think the L-Finesse philosophy of 'avoiding exaggeration' is a critique of Bangle in particular, and the refinement of the new Lexus designs are the antithesis of Bangle's flame styling.

 

spot on... and plus, toyota has its own "flame surfacing" before bangle...

 

This is more like BMW PR. If it's really praise for Bangle, then BMW wouldn't have felt the need to tone down the new 3 series. In fact the new 3 series is "de-Bangle-ized ", much like some of the makes that are said to have followed the Bangle set.

 

indeed. And 3 series look good, until that horrible plain back with Hyundai H1 interchangable rear lights (i swear).

Bangle design:
- 7 series - complete mess. Looks expensive while move, yet when it is still, it looks like complete mess of shapes.
- 5 series - not that bad looking car, just not beautiful. It has an strong design that is powerful but again not beautiful.
- 6 series - completly awesome from front, you simply want to move away from its way when you see it in back mirror. Once again, back is horrible on what could have been one of the strongest designs of this decade.
- 3 series - toned down but still powerful, until you reach its back, with korean back lights. Simply looks way too cheap for such fine car.
-Z4 - i actually like its design a lot. Flame surfacing works good on this car.

Overall, new MB cars look a lot better these days than BMW's. Remember the 90's when MB's were toned down bulky shapes and BMW's were beautiful?

 

with that being said , its still a bangle design. i personally like his designs, but lets be real, who really hits the bullseye on the first try. Except lexus, which would be everyones answer

 

Not really, depending on how you define what's a real Bangle design. I' ve heard he was" kicked up", promoted last year to oversee design for all brands and given a seat on the board. His assistant, Adrian Van Hooydonk, was put in charge of the BMW-brand design.

Bangle was already in the BMW design team for the previous 3 series(E46), but that's not a typical Bangle design. BMW execs asked to tone down the design for the new 3, so it's no longer the direction Bangle originally intend to go, like he did with the 7, 5 & Z4 etc.

 

I agree.

I get sick and tired of hearing Bangle get praise or recognition.

Bangle DID NOT come up with the "Bangle Butt"!

The raised trunk which Bangle is credited for appeared on several other cars years before the Bangle 7 Series came out. Cars like the Chrysler Cirrus had a raised trunk.

I wonder who and how much gets paid in the media to give Bangle so much undeserved recognition.

 

i see your point


i wouldnt call it praise b/c most ppl didnt like it

 

OK. I understand what you are saying. You feel that the more time one spends with I-Drive, MMR, and similiar devices, the more that he / she will like it. There is mixed opinon on this. Some people DO get used to it. Some don't. Several magazines that have given new BMW's 12-month long Four-Seasons tests ( driving it day in and day out ) are also divided on it. I'm glad for your sake though that you DO like yours, though.......new BMW's are not cheap and it is good that you are satisfied with your purchase.

 

I think it's time to rest this subject about the Bangle designs. The public has spoken with more 7 series sales than any other previous 7 model. The 6 series is winning hearts everywhere. Style preferences are subjective but obviously, a great many people like what BMW is doing. Bangle probably had little to do with the idrive, probably some whipper snapper engineer is responsible for that. Probably blame Bangle for signing off on it. Bottom line is it doen't look like BMW sales are in decline and several other marques are copying the Bangle butt. Enough said.