If Frank Srephenson, Freeman Thomas and Adrian Van Hooydonk are looking in then this may interest them,,,,,,If anyone could also link all the above to a mixed-race American, around New York way with the name Andrew, slightly camp, within the design field…..I would love to hear what his surname might be…….I’ll reveil all after I hear his name!

plonker2@go4.it

word 2 tha mutha

On a related note, I was driving the other day in Los Angeles and saw a 325 I have not seen before, it could be a testing mule for the 2007? It didn’t look like the 2006. It had a snub nose, looking somewhat like the new Mustang. It looked pretty hideous, and seemed to have gotten rid of any design elements of BMW heritage, save perhaps the tail lights.

I have no ill will towards Frank Stephenson — the MINI is a design masterpiece.

The result of which is that, to me, even the newest Audis and Mercedes appear to be dated and stale (the CLS being an exception).

The biggest thing that BMW neads to be carefull of is looking like a Pontiac. (last year’s 5)

My point, exactly.

This is all totally subjective, of course. (It’s design!) What you see as “forward”, “bold” and “progressive” I see as just the opposite. I think these new BMW designs are much more targeted toward the middle of the market than with any forward-looking, design-savvy segment of avant garde buyers. They share the gratuitously overworked sheet metal that has always blurred differences among the multitude of offerings from design-weak auto makers. Just my opinion, of course.

Its awesome!

You move toward the middle of the market in terms of design or price, you will sell more cars. That doesn’t mean you are not simultaneously eroding the long-term value of your brand.

Actually I think the exact opposite happened here. BMW made a conscious effort to move their design language forward and into territory that might make some of the more conservative or less progressive buyers a bit hesitant. I believe that, to a certain extent, this was a very calculated move for the brand and it’s audience. They paved the way for the BMW brand to be more bold and forward thinking in the years to come with an audience that prizes those attributes.

If you look at BMW’s automotive design and corporate culture in the 90′s you’ll see that the company embodied the very definition of “staid“. Not that they didn’t make fine cars that performed at a high level. They just did so in a package and with an attitude of a conservative nature. One that didn’t rock the boat with older BMW owners and stayed the course with the same sausage, three different lengths approach that is still used by a number of high-end automakers.

So in a sense you can think of the design shift as a way to refine the brand and in turn, refine the audience and potential customer base now and for years to come. The sales will always be there for a company that makes products like BMW’s. However the sales brought about by this change will move the company towards a more progressive individual that will in turn help steer the brand in the years ahead.

Of course this approach is in stark contrast to the BMW Group’s execution of MINI brand design

I honestly don’t think that sales numbers are the right metric here. You move toward the middle of the market in terms of design or price, you will sell more cars. That doesn’t mean you are not simultaneously eroding the long-term value of your brand.

Nrkist, while I’m sure some would agree with your overall sentiment, I have to take issue with your statement regarding the bleeding of equity. The numbers simply don’t agree with you. In fact, they say the opposite.

First half of 2005 the most successful in BMW Group’s History…

In terms of sales, the first half of 2005 (a point at which all of Chris Bangle’s designs had entered the market) was the most successful in the BMW Group’s history. In addition, June of this year was the single best month in the company’s history as deliveries were up 13.5% compared to the previous year.

I think Bangle dragged BMW from a higher plane of distinctive functional elegance down into the seething mosh pit of flashy, disposable automotive design, where they are now battling it out with the Asian and American marques they had transcended for so many decades. The equity is rapidly bleeding out of the BMW brand. Hope someone can apply a tourniquet before it flat lines.

The Japanesse (Lexus) have been given the nod as having the best Nav userfriendly system.

Don’t get me wrong I like BMW and I don’t know if the award included things like NAV system desgin and ease of use.

Just take a look at this Autoweek article which begins with the almost penitent statement: “Maybe Chris Bangle was right…”.

http://www.autoweek.com/article.cms?articleId=102740

It is one thing to accidentally come up with some really ugly designs (a la Hyundai), it’s a completely different thing to have a definite design signature specifically applied to all models – even if most don’t appreciate how they look.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/AUTOS/carreviews/07/14/summer_convertibles/index.html