Ding dong, the witch is dead!! Bye Bye Bangle

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Good riddance to you, sir!

Press Release

Christopher E. Bangle, the BMW Group’s Head of Design, has worked closely with Adrian van Hooydonk in BMW Group design development for nearly17 years. Now he is handing over his post to van Hooydonk, who is currently Head of BMW Automobile Design. “Christopher Bangle has had a lasting impact on the identity of BMW Group’s brands. His contribution to the company’s success has been decisive, and together with his teams he has mapped out a clear and aesthetic route into the future,” said Dr Klaus Draeger, BMW AG’s Board Member for Development.

Dr Draeger went on to explain that the BMW Group was currently “in an excellent position”, thanks to a broad portfolio of automobiles and several new vehicle concepts due for market launch in the coming months and years. The BMW AG Management Board, he added, is looking forward to working with van Hooydonk as Head of BMW Group Design - a man who shares Bangle’s fascination for technology and aesthetics, tradition and innovation. Dr Draeger affirmed that van Hooydonk would be in a position to continue to build on a design philosophy, which extends across the BMW Group’s brands. Bangle’s plan to pursue his own design-related endeavours beyond the auto industry marks the start of a new phase in his life while maintaining strong ties with the BMW Group.

Over the years numerous designs for new vehicles and vehicle concepts have been developed under Christopher Bangle’s leadership. As well as continuing the BMW 3, 5 and 7 Series, he and his teams were responsible for a range of other models, including the BMW Z3, BMW Z4, BMW X5, BMW Z8, BMW X3, the new BMW 6 Series, the BMW X6 and the BMW 1 Series. Other developments under the auspices of Christopher Bangle include the new MINI and Rolls-Royce models and a number of innovative motorcycle concepts. During his tenure, Christopher Bangle was also instrumental in making the company’s consultancy subsidiary, BMW Group DesignworksUSA, what it is today: a global design agency in North America, Munich and Singapore for leading international brands and companies in a wide variety of industries.

Thanks to their outstanding design quality numerous products from all three of the BMW Group’s automobile brands have won a host of renowned awards from around the world. Bangle has always had a special aptitude for working with his teams to strengthen the identities and unmistakable images of the BMW Group’s brands and to inspire design innovations, said Dr Draeger, Board Member for Development. Over the years he has received a dozen patents for his technical applications and design. These, along with the one hundred additional patents awarded to the BMW Group Design under Bangle’s auspices, are a testimony to his creative and innovative power.

Born in the USA, Christopher Bangle, aged 52, has been Head of BMW Group Design Development since October 1992. After studying at the University of Wisconsin and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, he began his working life in Rüsselsheim, where he worked for Adam Opel AG. In 1985 he joined FIAT, where he became Director of the FIAT Centro Stile in 1992. Shortly afterwards he left the Italian automaker to come to Munich.

Throughout his career with the BMW Group Bangle’s right-hand man has been Adrian van Hooydonk, who is now set to become his successor. He described van Hooydonk as “truly a top professional in our business,” adding, “I am sure that the many strong design strategies he has helped us create for the BMW Group will continue to develop and evolve.”

Adrian van Hooydonk, aged 44, will take over as Director of BMW Group Design with immediate effect. In his new position he will be responsible for design development for the BMW, Rolls-Royce and MINI brands. Born in the Netherlands, van Hooydonk studied at Delft Polytechnic University in Holland and later at the Art Center Europe in Vevey, Switzerland, until 1992. From there he came to Munich, where he joined BMW as a designer. In the year 2000 he went to California to work for the BMW Group subsidiary Designworks USA. He was Director of the internationally renowned design agency from 2001 to 2004. Then, under Bangle as the BMW Group’s Head of Design, he became Head of the Brand Design Studio for BMW Automobiles.

The BMW 6 Series and 7 Series lines clearly bear the hallmark of van Hooydonk’s design influence, as do the Z9 Concept Car, the BMW Concept CS (unveiled in 2007) and the M1 Hommage Study. In 1997 van Hooydonk created the ACV 30 Show Car for MINI and more recently he and his team have developed the designs for the new BMW 7 Series and Z4 as well as for the Concept Progressive Activity Sedan, which celebrates its premiere at the Geneva Auto Show in early March 2009.

“I am honoured and extremely excited to take on this new responsibility”, says van Hooydonk. “BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce produce the best cars and motorcycles in their segment, and I am really looking forward to being able to contribute to the future development of these brands.” Speaking of his hopes for the years to come, van Hooydonk added: “I have no doubt that there are challenges ahead, but BMW’s depth in engineering and the passion of its talented design team are as strong as ever. Together I am sure we will be able to create some very sophisticated and extremely attractive concepts.”
 
Really? NO ONE has anything to say about Chris leaving BMW? :eek:
 
Do you not like the look of current BMW's?

Its widely agreed (at least in the circles that I run) that Bangle slaughtered these cars over the last 10 years. The "new" 5 and 7 series were seriously toned down after Bangle had redesigned them due to drop in sales and customer complaints.
 
These two quotes struck me:

"Throughout his career with the BMW Group Bangle’s right-hand man has been Adrian van Hooydonk, who is now set to become his successor."

"The BMW 6 Series and 7 Series lines clearly bear the hallmark of van Hooydonk’s design influence"


Have not liked too many of their designs recently either - specifically the 6 series and post 2001 7 series. I would be very happy with a 2001 740i or 2003 540i. After that, skip all of them, save perhaps M3.

However, I do not think you will see too much of a radical departure of what has been produced based on how similar this new person seems to be to the outgoing one.
 
Nope. Don't really care about BMW's.

+1 I knew Bangle was the man behind the designs. But never gave it much thought after. I was never a BMW fan, though I give them their props, just not the car for me. Benz too for that matter. Go figure. If I was in the market for a German car, I would go the Audi route.
 
ummm not the circles i run in.....

i actually LIKE what he did.....i only wish Audi was as aggressive....

sales went down on the 5 and the 7 not because of looks, but because they broke all the time!! i drive?
 
ummm not the circles i run in.....

i actually LIKE what he did.....i only wish Audi was as aggressive....

sales went down on the 5 and the 7 not because of looks, but because they broke all the time!! i drive?

I beg to differ! :cool: As I guy who WANTED to buy a 5 series I went in to do it and just couldn't get past the interior. Horrible triple bubble dash. Window switches almost out of reach.

I bought an Audi instead. And then another. And then another......
 
5 audi's and only 2 bmw's here......interior may not be nice, but i dont think chris main focus was interior, which have ALWAYS been week....look at a e30? or e36...yuk....e39 5...yuk, looks 100 years old.

audi is still better
 
I thought he was great and one of the best designers of my time, loved the original 7 series (2002), the 6 is a work of art and the Z4 is gorgous. I like what he did, but then again I like a wacky car that doesnt look like everything else on the road.:wink:
 
I too was never a fan of the Bangle-ized BMW. The E63 6 looks pretty good, the E65 7 passable but the E60 5 was disappointing and the E90 3 even worse. Always made me think he started with the 6 series and adapted the style to the 3/5/7.

The look of luxury cars should not be subjective. They should look great, always. Anyone ever complain about the looks of Aston Martin? Bentley? Audi A/S series? Lexus? Past BMWs? Sure, a few, but not too loudly and not across the board. A disproportionate amount of people complained about the Bangle BMW design--at least that was always my impression.

I say good riddance.

JMHO
 
As awful as many of his designers were/are -- it is funny how many other brands copied his trunk design.. ie the Bangle Butt.

I think the M5 and M6 look great. The rest, not so much.
 
Really? NO ONE has anything to say about Chris leaving BMW? :eek:

Yea, if you care about BMW's then you love Chris Bangle.

He has designed EVERY BMW for the last 17 years, so STFU. I am sick and tiered of Bangle Bashing. The greatest selling and rated cars of all time (E36, E46, etc) are Bangle designs. He knows what he is doing.
 
Yea, if you care about BMW's then you love Chris Bangle.

He has designed EVERY BMW for the last 17 years, so STFU. I am sick and tiered of Bangle Bashing. The greatest selling and rated cars of all time (E36, E46, etc) are Bangle designs. He knows what he is doing.

He sucked.
 
Yea, if you care about BMW's then you love Chris Bangle.

He has designed EVERY BMW for the last 17 years, so STFU. I am sick and tiered of Bangle Bashing. The greatest selling and rated cars of all time (E36, E46, etc) are Bangle designs. He knows what he is doing.

Based on my research this isn't exactly true. While Bangle has been head of design for quite some time as I understand it he was not as personally involved in the designs of the pre-2001 BMW designs--his staff did most of the heavy lifting and he just signed off on it.
 
Based on my research this isn't exactly true. While Bangle has been head of design for quite some time as I understand it he was not as personally involved in the designs of the pre-2001 BMW designs--his staff did most of the heavy lifting and he just signed off on it.

They also scaled back his involvement in the latest 3 series after sagging sales and complaints about the newer 7s and 5s.

But to say that he wasn't in one way or another involved in every product, would be a lie.
 
They also scaled back his involvement in the latest 3 series after sagging sales and complaints about the newer 7s and 5s.

But to say that he wasn't in one way or another involved in every product, would be a lie.

True but that indicates that the more involvement he has the less popular the design is. Things seemed to be going well when he was less involved; perhaps he is a better boss to designers than an actual designer.

Clearly enough people were outraged and, through more personal involvement, his name became so closely associated with the unpopular designs BMW had no choice but to distance themselves from him.

People wanted to be assured that he wasn't even going to be in the building for the next design which is, I agree, nonsense since things had been going fine under Bangle's administration since 1992.

I think they simply could have reduced Bangle's direct input on the new designs and let the staff do the bulk of the work while continuing to let him run the show since he has proven he can lead the design team but I guess BMW didn't want to take any chances and wanted to broadcast that they were changing course as drastically as possible.
 
He and Hooydonk SUCK DONKEY BALLS!!! There designs are utter crap(Except for the e39 5 series and the e46 3 series)!! I hate his B.S. philosophy or extending car design beyond good styling to something like art. Bangle is just a dumba$$ american midwesterner trying to be an European Snob.......
 
Like it or not, Bangle is an influential force in auto design. His design cues can be seen copied in other automakers. For example, the high rear end of the 7 series is virtually on every new car design today. He pushed the enveloped when others settled for cookie cutter designs.
 
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