Bangle Butt Is Out And 4 Cylinders Are In - BMW Has Big Changes On The Way

When BMW  the 2002 7 Series sedan at the Frankfurt Motor Show on Sept. 11, 2001, the buzz in the hall, not yet steam-rolled by the terrorist attacks in the U.S., was all about the new Bimmer with what would become known as the "Bangle butt."

That wasn't a reference to the derrière of the bespectacled, 51-year-old Wisconsin-born, California-educated chief designer at BMW, Chris Bangle, who was responsible for the styling of BMW's flagship sedan, but rather the ungainly trunk that seemed at first glance to be so disconnected from the car as to be bolted on from another sedan. The four taillights, too, were bashed for a busy, ungainly look. One European auto industry critic memorably proclaimed that it looked like a dining room table had been dropped on the rear of the vaunted 7 Series.

Maybe Paris will be luckier for BMW than Frankfurt. In early October, BMW will unveil to the public an all-new flagship, designed under the direct supervision of BMW brand design chief Adrian Van Hooydonk, though Bangle remains chief designer over all BMW brands: BMW, MINI, and Rolls-Royce.

mitchatlexusofmarin - 9/11/2008 12:57:35 PM

+1 Boost

Very nice looking car- should be a winner.

lewishamiltonpimp - 9/11/2008 5:42:04 PM

+8 Boost

Are you sure that's the 7 series 009? It could be a stretched 5 lol.

KZ258 - 9/12/2008 10:02:59 AM

+1 Boost

lol yeah double zero 9. that looks more like the new, exact replica of a 7, 5 series instead

KZ258 - 9/12/2008 10:07:29 AM

+1 Boost

also, double zero 9, are the rest of the agents on vacation or have you slacked off way too much? you've been posting articles, regardless of boring it is, non-stop for days now. is everything ok?

AdHominem - 9/11/2008 1:00:01 PM

0 Boost

It sounds like BMW's closely integrated engineering teams and design teams are creating some sweet new cars.

Bangle is the Howard Roark of the auto design world and that is the highest praise there is.

LexSucks - 9/11/2008 1:16:46 PM

+4 Boost

If bangle is the "Howard Roark of the auto design world" then why are some of his design elements being phased out?

Agent009 - 9/11/2008 2:21:43 PM

+3 Boost

It's called evolution. Keeping up with the times.

LexSucks - 9/11/2008 3:14:23 PM

+4 Boost

Its called reversing a failed design direction.

AdHominem - 9/11/2008 3:18:50 PM

-1 Boost

LexSucks, brilliance that pushes way outside of what people know always causes a firestorm of push-back. Do you know what happened to Howard Roark? Similarly, Bangle weathered huge storms repeatedly and continued to make innovative new designs. It's the mark of the truely creative. Van Gogh sold one painting while he was alive. Many Frank Lloyd Wright's designs were demolished before people understood their greatness. So, I don't believe that Bangle should care one bit about people whining about his designs.

LexSucks - 9/11/2008 3:28:04 PM

+3 Boost

Your're comparing Bangle to Van Gogh? Not even close.

Bangle’s designs are polarizing while true beauty is pretty much universal. Bangle’s designs also do not photograph well. If a car doesn’t look good in photos it doesn’t look good in real life. Any design that you have to get "used to" is a poor design. True beauty is apparent at first site.

Bangle might be a design God to you but to me he’s just a designer that tries to push the envelope with ill conceived design elements. Take a look at the current 5-series. That car looks odd to say the least and the word beauty has never been associated with that car.

AdHominem - 9/12/2008 12:14:47 AM

+2 Boost

LexSucks, you said "True beauty is apparent at first site." That is opposite conclusion of my very clear examples of Frank Lloyd Wright, etc. It is NOT always apparent at first site to the general population. Frankly, I don't give a rat's ass if you or anyone else appreciates his work. I do and I think it took enormous fortitude on the part of both BMW and Bangle to create something so outside of people's expectation of measured sameness. A car company has to invest hundreds of millions to create new car. The balls it takes to be original under this kind of pressure doesn't come along very often.

Bravo Bangle.

steve27t - 9/11/2008 3:47:37 PM

-1 Boost

The difference between Van Gogh and Bangle/BMW is that one sale is not enough.

An artist can die poor, they can sell a very few paintings to a small audience and be prosperous, but BMW have to sell hundreds of thousands, its a very different market.

BMW have sold well despite the Bangle style not neccessarily because of it. Couple a design that is more universally liked and BMW would have sold more cars.

steve27t - 9/12/2008 11:27:58 AM

+1 Boost

1995e34

The 3 coupe is a good looking car, after that you have to make excuses for just about all the others. Nearly every journalist comments negatively on BMW styling, this cannot be good. The X3 is horrible the 5 is at best "awkward". The fact that BMW are now watering down and smoothing out the styling seems to acknowledge that they got it wrong?

528i - 9/11/2008 6:24:19 PM

+4 Boost

yay death to bangle, bring back the old designers.

LexSucks - 9/12/2008 9:38:45 AM

+2 Boost

You should see some of the fiat design that Bangle created. Laughable.

g2ok - 9/11/2008 10:55:13 PM

+5 Boost

I think it was not all that bad, nothing in comparison to the idiots at Acura that have totally screwed up.

gooch - 9/12/2008 7:20:48 AM

+4 Boost

People will only understand Bangle's designs after they're gone. LexSucks, you don't know what you're talking about. You're more than free to have and give your opinion; but stop trying to make it so that your opinion reflects the rest of the world. If people were so turned off by Bangle's designs, why did the 7 Series sell more during this run than at any other time in its history?

LexSucks - 9/12/2008 9:34:38 AM

0 Boost

"why did the 7 Series sell more during this run than at any other time in its history?"

They sold despite the designs not becuase of it.

BMW seems to be going the more conservative route which is the exact opposite of the bangle designs. If Bangle’s design were so successful then why are the new designs less radical? If anything the new designs should be even more radical, which they aren’t. BMW is moving away from the brash bangle designs of before. Thank God!!!

gooch - 9/12/2008 12:18:43 PM

+3 Boost

Design is one of the primary reasons people buy a particular car! There are a select few (Nissan GTR owners, for instance) who can get past the looks and buy a car anyway; and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery -- look at all the iterations of the Bangle Butt throughout the industry.
BMW is moving away from it because flame surfacing has achieved its purpose -- it distinguished BMW design from everyone else. No matter what, you cannot mistake any of the current Bimmers with any other car on the road.

gooch - 9/15/2008 8:45:47 AM

0 Boost

A century old company? Honestly, dude, stop.

And Bangle didn't design the cars -- Adrian Von Hooydonk did. Honestly, dude, stop.

BMW sales did not suffer at all during the flame-surfacing era -- check the stats. Oh, wait -- honestly, dude, stop.

Shut up.

Whelan - 9/12/2008 8:12:46 AM

+2 Boost

To be perfectly honest, I would be very excited to see what BMW could do with some tuned 4 cylinder engines. It would definitely peak my curiousity and I think it would be the best move they could make now.

Heyhuub - 9/13/2008 10:08:49 AM

+1 Boost

Well currently BMW has 3 petrol 4 cylinders. All n/a, a 1.6 with 122hp for the 116i/316i, a 2.0 with 143hp for the 118i/318i and a 2.0 with 170hp for the 120i/320i.

ktu01 - 9/14/2008 11:01:28 PM

+1 Boost

Did I miss it? Where does the article talk about new 4 cylinder engines?

snatchandgrab - 9/15/2008 1:11:12 PM

+1 Boost

Love it. I even like the current model..the butt never bothered me.