Claim: Bangle Left BMW Over Project i

I disagree; I'd say that if he sees himself as an artist, then he has every right to leave so that he doesn't compromise his own ideals.

Which bright future? Chris Bangle worked as head of design for over 17 years at BMW. He is responsible for a lot of very beautiful models like E38, E39, Z3, Z4 or Z8. It sounds like a bad joke, that the drawer of the most controversal products (E63 and E65/66) in the whole history of the company, Adrian van Hooydonk, is now responsible for design of the whole BMW Group. He hadn't be promoted because there is absolutely no reason to reward him for his bad taste!

Just to let you guys know, the previous generation of 7 Series, which was much hated, was designed by Adrian van Hooydonk and not Chris Bangle. So you tell me what BMW's future for design will be.

I am sure Bangle had a difficult time stretching pulling the Board and design team forward, as moving out of a comfort zone can be extraordinarily difficult for any team. At first, some of the designs (perhaps intended to move the team "off center") seemed too provoking, (Z9, 1 sereis concept's "sow belly", 5 series), but as the team incorporated their own thoughts into the disign direction, thereby tempering it, the results have been spectacular. The new 7 and Z4 are great examples of how different teams have taken the desing language in a forward direction without entirely alienating the BMW faithful. For one, I sincerely hope the new 5 will be an additional example of forward-thinking design aimed at the BMW faithful.

From what I heard, designing a BMW is not a team effort, they have a system whereby everyone design their own 5 Series for example, and they just pick the best and ask the designer to carry on to the enxt stage with clay models. From what I can remember, it is not a team effort

Good eye, Trekkerbin! Could be the new 5 - I hope!

No that's just a 7-series

It's the new 7

I do love the blind hatred of the poor man on this site. This level of negative vibes used to be reserved for men like Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. Poor Chris Bangle. He's been categorised with some of the most destructive dictators in human history, poor fellow.

My comment was intended to be an extremely sardonic use of hyperbole. However, on reflection, there is some small grain of truth in it -- the number of times I've seen the post of "I F***ING HATE BANGLE HE RUINED BMWS" or something along similar lines is ridiculous. Granted, you can justify hating a man such as Hitler, but to hate -- to actively hate -- Bangle because of his design philosiphy is just plain ludicrous. The poor bloke reinterpreted BMW design, not the way the world order. You can disagree with his reinterpretation, you can dislike his designs, but to actually hate the man himself displays a very narrow mind. Oh and V6s_stink -- it wasn't exactly directed at you per se, you just happened to spark the thought in my mind. So sorry about that. With regard to your actual comment, it's not a great photo, but I've seen many people use similar gestures during public speaking -- especially Americans -- I think it's something in their culture, like the Italians, who are famous for it.

Hey Lucifa, This is getting to be an old thread, I hope you find my reply. I agree that the using the f-word and proclaiming hate for anyone in i-net comments is small minded and wrong. Bangle's work and public persona were both polarizing. If you weren't a fan of either, they tended to magnify each other and lead to some real disdain. For me, I never really liked his work, but didn't care too much until he hosted a design forum at NAIAS a few years ago. Some journalists and people thought he was truly "charming", as AutoWeek wrote. Others thought he was a smug, self promoter. I thought he acted "self enlightened" and had more pride than his body of work supported. I see that behavior in the gesture of the photo. I give away the point that most great and truly creative designers produce a few turkeys. Most, though, have one or several really great, on an historical scale, designs. I can't think of one of these you can credit to Bangle. Almost anyone who sees a Cisitalia, 250GTO, Miura, Starlight Coupe, original or new 8C, etc, etc. for their first time is stopped in stunned amazement. This man acts like he is one of the greatest ever without having produced a truly great design. The new 8C would not have materialized if Chris had stayed at Fiat/Alfa. Nothing as nice would likely have occurred. I do think it was past time for him to leave BMW. It will be 5-6 years before whatever Adrian's style is emerges in the market place. This is going to be just too long, in my opinion.

actually, that is so funny it made my day

Interesting, i just looked at a very close up photo of the front right of the 2009 7 Series - it has identical headlights, the foglight beneath them in the spoiler, the headlight-washer square in the exact same place and shape and an identical bonnet line. I really do think that's a 7 Series not a 5.

of course not, we are not talking about Audi's here. The front is identical to the new 7, just a different colour!

It is BMW's loss... now the Americans will not buy BMWs because they are not designed by an American anymore... just jokes

A little bird told me that Audi is trying to get him on the team!