Bangle's Curvy Style, Initially Slammed
By Critics, Fuels Trend
By NEAL E. BOUDETTE
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
January 12, 2006; Page D4
DETROIT – Trashed by critics just a few years ago, BMW AG chief designer Chris Bangle is experiencing a pleasant reversal of fortune at this week's Detroit auto show.
Mr. Bangle, a 49-year-old American, was pummeled by BMW fans and auto journalists after the German car maker restyled its flagship 7 Series sedan in 2001 with sculpted curves and contours. The car's bulbous trunk was ridiculed as the "Bangle butt," and thousands signed an Internet petition imploring BMW to "Stop Chris Bangle."
But at this year's North American International Auto Show, designs resembling Mr. Bangle's work are cropping up in cars from several BMW rivals, including Toyota Motor Corp.'s new Camry and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class from DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes division, both of which sport raised trunks.
"Suddenly, everyone is trying to do the kind of styling for which the auto journalists criticized the BMW group so loudly," BMW Chief Executive Helmut Panke crowed at a dinner with reporters here. "You look at the Camry rear end and you see another 7 Series. It is not the 'Bangle butt' anymore."
The new LS 460 from Toyota's Lexus brand also has a profile that almost exactly follows that of the 7 Series, while models from Nissan Motor Co.'s Inifiniti brand have moved to a modernist styling.
In an interview, Mr. Bangle said he is pleased BMW's work is being emulated, but, "I don't dwell on these issues," he said. "In this business, you don't spend a lot of time looking in the mirror. You try to figure out what curve is coming up."
With other car makers following the course Mr. Bangle set, some of his critics are starting to come around, especially now that the new 3 Series sedan has been launched to favorable reviews. The car, which is BMW's top-selling model and was redesigned last year, has a look related to that of the 7 Series, but with less-curvaceous headlights and taillights and fewer sharp creases and contours.
For some customers, the toned-down, modernist look of the 3 Series and the fact that more and more cars are adopting similar designs have made Mr. Bangle's work less jarring.
"The new 3 Series has actually tempered some of my animosity toward Mr. Bangle," said Tony Yokam, a software salesman in California. "He's done a really good job there." This year, he traded in a BMW 5 Series for a Carrera S from Porsche AG, in part because he didn't like Mr. Bangle's new 5 Series.
But Mr. Yokam said the 5 Series is growing on him now that more and more cars from Infiniti, Lexus and other brands are hitting the road with similar styling.
Educated at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, Mr. Bangle worked at Fiat SpA before being named BMW's first non-German head of design, in 1992. His overhaul of BMW's look was part of a bid by the company to accelerate growth after a management shake-up in the late 1990s.
BMW hoped more modern and differentiated designs would pull in younger buyers, but the criticism overshadowed the cars.
For the first few years Mr. Bangle's cars were on the market, it was unclear whether the redesign was working. BMW's sales soared, but largely because it added new models. In the U.S., sales of the 7 Series declined after a good first year.
But last year, BMW tweaked the 7 Series look, and the model's U.S. sales rose 12% to 18,165 cars, according to Autodata Corp. Last year, with the new 3 Series earning favorable reviews, BMW reported its best year in the U.S.
By Critics, Fuels Trend
By NEAL E. BOUDETTE
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
January 12, 2006; Page D4
DETROIT – Trashed by critics just a few years ago, BMW AG chief designer Chris Bangle is experiencing a pleasant reversal of fortune at this week's Detroit auto show.
Mr. Bangle, a 49-year-old American, was pummeled by BMW fans and auto journalists after the German car maker restyled its flagship 7 Series sedan in 2001 with sculpted curves and contours. The car's bulbous trunk was ridiculed as the "Bangle butt," and thousands signed an Internet petition imploring BMW to "Stop Chris Bangle."
But at this year's North American International Auto Show, designs resembling Mr. Bangle's work are cropping up in cars from several BMW rivals, including Toyota Motor Corp.'s new Camry and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class from DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes division, both of which sport raised trunks.
"Suddenly, everyone is trying to do the kind of styling for which the auto journalists criticized the BMW group so loudly," BMW Chief Executive Helmut Panke crowed at a dinner with reporters here. "You look at the Camry rear end and you see another 7 Series. It is not the 'Bangle butt' anymore."
The new LS 460 from Toyota's Lexus brand also has a profile that almost exactly follows that of the 7 Series, while models from Nissan Motor Co.'s Inifiniti brand have moved to a modernist styling.
In an interview, Mr. Bangle said he is pleased BMW's work is being emulated, but, "I don't dwell on these issues," he said. "In this business, you don't spend a lot of time looking in the mirror. You try to figure out what curve is coming up."
With other car makers following the course Mr. Bangle set, some of his critics are starting to come around, especially now that the new 3 Series sedan has been launched to favorable reviews. The car, which is BMW's top-selling model and was redesigned last year, has a look related to that of the 7 Series, but with less-curvaceous headlights and taillights and fewer sharp creases and contours.
For some customers, the toned-down, modernist look of the 3 Series and the fact that more and more cars are adopting similar designs have made Mr. Bangle's work less jarring.
"The new 3 Series has actually tempered some of my animosity toward Mr. Bangle," said Tony Yokam, a software salesman in California. "He's done a really good job there." This year, he traded in a BMW 5 Series for a Carrera S from Porsche AG, in part because he didn't like Mr. Bangle's new 5 Series.
But Mr. Yokam said the 5 Series is growing on him now that more and more cars from Infiniti, Lexus and other brands are hitting the road with similar styling.
Educated at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, Mr. Bangle worked at Fiat SpA before being named BMW's first non-German head of design, in 1992. His overhaul of BMW's look was part of a bid by the company to accelerate growth after a management shake-up in the late 1990s.
BMW hoped more modern and differentiated designs would pull in younger buyers, but the criticism overshadowed the cars.
For the first few years Mr. Bangle's cars were on the market, it was unclear whether the redesign was working. BMW's sales soared, but largely because it added new models. In the U.S., sales of the 7 Series declined after a good first year.
But last year, BMW tweaked the 7 Series look, and the model's U.S. sales rose 12% to 18,165 cars, according to Autodata Corp. Last year, with the new 3 Series earning favorable reviews, BMW reported its best year in the U.S.
