Chris Bangle Funhouse from the Org

nate328Ci said:

Someone forgot to put the E46, Z8, and Z3s up there :yikes:

Click to expand...

BANGLE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE Z8 EXCEPT THAT HE WAS HEAD OF DESIGN AT THE TIME OF IT'S RELEASE.

He did not pen it, he merely "approved" it.

The Z3 is his and is ugly enough to prove it.

And we do not need to rehash the whole Bangle/Reitzle thing with respect to the E46. But we see what happened on the "facelift" with Reitzle long gone.

TD said:

BANGLE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE Z8 EXCEPT THAT HE WAS HEAD OF DESIGN AT THE TIME OF IT'S RELEASE.

He did not pen it, he merely "approved" it.

Click to expand...

He didn't Pen the new 7-series either, he merely "approved" it.

TD said:

BANGLE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE Z8 EXCEPT THAT HE WAS HEAD OF DESIGN AT THE TIME OF IT'S RELEASE.

He did not pen it, he merely "approved" it.

The Z3 is his and is ugly enough to prove it.

And we do not need to rehash the whole Bangle/Reitzle thing with respect to the E46. But we see what happened on the "facelift" with Reitzle long gone.

Click to expand...

He has been head of design for more than a DECADE!!! He didn't pen the E65 or any of these new cars either

Why don't you go acutally read some articles about the car. BMW credits Bangle as the designer of the E46...

http://www.bmwcca.org/Roundel/2000/0400fea.htm

http://www.bmwcca.org/Roundel/1998/1098fea.htm
"The 3er's design is all Chris Bangle's doing. BMW's enthusiastic American head of design led the team which elevated the 3 Series to its largest iteration yet. "

http://www.bmwusa.com/performance/popups/new3/bangle/bangle.html

nate328Ci said:

Someone forgot to put the E46, Z8, and Z3s up there :yikes:

Click to expand...

Those designs, whether personally sketched by Bangle, approved by Bangle, or just waived under Bangle's nose, all share one thing in common: They are not future designs. Whatever his past efforts, it is clear from everything that CB has said that the Z9/E65/CS1/X-coupe/Hand of Man/Flame Surfaced look is the wave of BMW's future. That's the place that we don't want to go to which CB has committed himself to take us. If I thought, for one second, that there was even a slender chance that the next 3 would look like an E46 and not like the CS1 or E65, I wouldn't be calling for Bangle's resignation. But there isn't, and I am.

The Z8 was designed by Henrik Fiskar. Look it up.

And, yes, Hooeydonk, not Bangle, penned all of the DesignWorks fiascos (where, perhaps, the blame *should* be directed) including the E65, the Z9 and the X-Coupe. (And Hooeydonk looks and sounds like an even bigger self-affected freak than Bangle, if that's possible.)

So Bangle has "approved" one good design and MANY bad ones. He's still the boss. So he gets the blame.

And, BTW, the E46 was designed by committee and was partially complete before Bangle even came on board at BMW.

TD said:

He's still the boss. So he gets the blame.

And, BTW, the E46 was designed by committee and was partially complete before Bangle even came on board at BMW.

Click to expand...

By the same logic, he should get the credit for every new good new design during his tenure. But, NO, that would consistent logic, that doesn't work. The Head of Design is the point man for every new design that comes from a carmaker, Bangle has done this at BMW for a long time. He gets credit for the E46, X5, etc. Considering the profits, I wouldn't say that he has no track record.

Every car that is designed by a large group of people. One person cannot design a vehicle as complex as the E46. The E46 was initially designed at designworks USA, as was the X5. The designer of the Z8, Henrik Fisker, now is in charge of auto design at designworks.

http://www.designworksusa.com/auto.html

nate328Ci said:

By the same logic, he should get the credit for every new good new design during his tenure. But, NO, that would consistent logic, that doesn't work. The Head of Design is the point man for every new design that comes from a carmaker, Bangle has done this at BMW for a long time. He gets credit for the E46, X5, etc. Considering the profits, I wouldn't say that he has no track record.

Every car that is designed by a large group of people. One person cannot design a vehicle as complex as the E46. The E46 was initially designed at designworks USA, as was the X5. The designer of the Z8, Henrik Fisker, now is in charge of auto design at designworks.

http://www.designworksusa.com/auto.html

Click to expand...

No, he's not. Fisker is now with Ford's Premier Auto Group. Reitzle recruited him several months ago.

Bangle's past accomplishments mean nothing. It's his future "vision" that is the problem.http://www.cardesignnews.com/news/whoswhere/010821ford-fisker.html

nate328Ci said:

By the same logic, he should get the credit for every new good new design during his tenure. But, NO, that would consistent logic, that doesn't work. The Head of Design is the point man for every new design that comes from a carmaker, Bangle has done this at BMW for a long time. He gets credit for the E46, X5, etc. Considering the profits, I wouldn't say that he has no track record.

Every car that is designed by a large group of people. One person cannot design a vehicle as complex as the E46. The E46 was initially designed at designworks USA, as was the X5. The designer of the Z8, Henrik Fisker, now is in charge of auto design at designworks.

Click to expand...

I love how you selectively quote me to distort what I said.

And I am also amazed how YOU and ONLY YOU seem to know truth about the recent designs. No, the entire automotive press corp is all wrong and YOU are right. Bangle isn't ruining BMW. No. In fact he's a HERO. At least according to YOU.

And JST is (as always) nailing the point. What's past is past. We fear the future designs coming from this guy.

If you want me to change my battle cry to "Fire Hooeydonk!!", fine. The point is that BMW styling is going down the crapper and fast.

TD said:

I love how you selectively quote me to distort what I said.

And I am also amazed how YOU and ONLY YOU seem to know truth about the recent designs. No, the entire automotive press corp is all wrong and YOU are right. Bangle isn't ruining BMW. No. In fact he's a HERO. At least according to YOU.

And JST is (as always) nailing the point. What's past is past. We fear the future designs coming from this guy.

If you want me to change my battle cry to "Fire Hooeydonk!!", fine. The point is that BMW styling is going down the crapper and fast.

Click to expand...

I don't really care who you want to fire. I don't think that I have distored anything. You always take away credit from Banlge when he achieves something, such as the huge sucess of the Z8, X5, and E46.

Since when is the entire automotive press corp claiming this? The only truly "aweful" car that has actually been built for production is the E65. There have been MANY press articles about the 7 and many of these articles have praised the car. You may not like the stlyling, but TS. There is a 6 month wait list in the US. The 7 is so much more of a driver's car than any other large car ever built (which you seem to like), yet you don't like it.

JST said:

No, he's not. Fisker is now with Ford's Premier Auto Group. Reitzle recruited him several months ago.

Bangle's past accomplishments mean nothing. It's his future "vision" that is the problem.http://www.cardesignnews.com/news/whoswhere/010821ford-fisker.html

Click to expand...

You're right, I forgot that. They need to update the webpage :tsk:

TD said:

The point is that BMW styling is going down the crapper and fast.

Click to expand...

Sad but true.

Well, you're not used to a post like this from me, but I think the time has come. And I kindly ask you people to open your eyes and take a look at what other car manufacturers are doing and what other people talking about BMW. OK, BMW maybe doing good for the moment, but it may change very rapidly. Hope I'm wrong with my diagnosis.

There's a long article in the latest issue of Auto, Motor & Sport (which is the leading car magazine in Germany) about the latest developments at BMW. I wish I could translate the whole text. It's one of the harshest article I have ever read.

Chris Bangle joined BMW as Wolfgang Reitzle was a member of Board of Management, Market & Product of BMW AG.

Acc. to the magazine some of the BMW designers, who were members of the design team, started to criticize Bangle's designs and being mobbed which led them to resign. One of the resigned designer said "Under the Reitzle management we 'softened' Bangle's designs. There existed a team-work. Every designer was asked about his/her opinions. But after Reitzle resigned, there's a chaos in the design department. Everyone is going his own way. The sad thing is, BMW is driving towards a wall and none of the higher-level managers have noticed it yet.

Ford Design Director J.Mays said " Even a (yet) brilliant car maker like BMW may get in serious trouble just by two unsuccessful designs"

Another ex-Top Manager " If BMW don't pay attention, it may get destroyed in two years"

On the other hand the brand loyalty is decreasing in a rapid way, according to the latest surveys, here in Germany.

All in all, the new designs may be future oriented etc. But there's one thing BMW Management and Chris Bangle is missing, IMO, is the fact that we, the buyer, will decide what a good design is, not Chris Bangle.

Alex Baumann said:

All in all, the new designs may be future oriented etc. But there's one thing BMW Management and Chris Bangle is missing, IMO, is the fact that we, the buyer, will decide what a good design is, not Chris Bangle.

Click to expand...

Good words Alex. The bottom line will eventually become the "bottom line" but lets hope its not too late when that point is reached. As a new owner, the allure of the BMW heritage and suggestions of several friends who have had them for years is what finally brought me over. But as the recent changes continue the edge that BMW holds may unfortunately fade

Plus the mainstreaming of the designs to that similar of other manufacturers will destroy the opportunity for others to join this heritage at least in a current year model IMO.