Stop Chris Bangle??

[MetalFan]

Cheif of design for BMW worldwide, Chris Bangle, has been under a lot of fire about his controversial designs for the new BMW's that have come out within the past year. Many claim them to be horrible, terrible, and downright bad, claiming that they are going to be responsible for BMW's downfall, as people will simply stop buying the badly designed cars. These claims may be outlandish, but that is the extent of the disagreement that some, no, many people feel for the works of Chris and his team. While there are people who think Chris' designs are just fine, or in some cases good, this whole Chris Bangle ordeal has been fairly major, with so many people being opposed to the designs.

People have already started taking action, and one such form of action can be seen in an online petition, entitled "Stop Chris Bangle", which urges BMW to fire the designer and seek someone else, making the claim that he "ruins" the cars as a whole. The petition can be viewed here and with over 7000 signatures and counting, there are obviously a lot of people up in arms about the issue.

The point of this topic is to ask you, what you think about this whole issue. Should CB be kept as a designer, and do you think his designs are, on the whole, good? Or do you think that he is ruining the cars, and should be fired? Only time will answer this question, but for now, state your opinions.

[piledriver]

I think this question is bullshit, ´cos he is well accepted with the big bosses and he has some successfull designs like X5....
so I don´t think such act like this petition will put him off his job...

[more-boost1555]

He's not going to get fired cause of some stupid petition, that's for certain. If BMW's sales numbers start dropping off then obviously they might consider whether his designs were helping BMW more than hurting.

I'm not a huge fan of the new flame styling, but then I was never a huge fan of BMW to begin with.

[badboybarge]

i absolutely LOVE bmw's, reason is that the first car and still the car i have is an E28 as u all know, and i just think that just about all bmw's up to this point in time hit the nail on the head and were absolutely perfect and were what people were looking for, but let me just say, the bmw's that start with E60 onwards are just terribal! they don't look anything like bmw's, i don't think it will stop the sales or have a downfall of bmw's, but i am truely dissapointed.

badboy

[IBrake4Rainbows]

i read somewhere bangle has been taken out of directly designing cars, but is still the design chief, maybe BMW lost it's bottle....

[Suka]

He designed the Fiat Multipla!
Nuff said.

[UK CARS]

Did he design the M3 CSL?

[IBrake4Rainbows]

he did design the original e46 BMW, so technically he did design the CSL. and no, he did not design the fiat Multipla, that was after his tenure at Fiat. he designed the Coupe, however.

[Falcon500]

I personally think people are takeing this whole issue too far! dont forget Bangals designs okyed by the owners first! and he also would of had a design breif to follow and seeing as it had been used on alot of the new cars im assuming he must of got it very accurately. BMW is still chruning out 1 million +cars a year (i got that pearl of info from when i was working at a BMW dealership as a deatailer) so personlly i belive leave the man alone and try to see what in essence are not bad designs at all and add a breath of fresh air to the BMW range.

[Suka]

No. I know for a fact that he did design the Multipla, he may have left by the time it was introduced but he did design it. Get the most recent BMW magazine and it will be in there. Would you like a scan of the article?

[IBrake4Rainbows]

bangle left Fiat in 1992 or 1993. as far as i can recall i have seen an article saying that the Multipla design was started in 1994. he had no say in the car, and such he cannot be blamed for the atrocity.

and falcon, from what i have heard from interviews, bangle seems remarkably better at making speeches about his designs than they actually are worth. and just on your pearl of wisdom, you'll find most of BMW's sales are made on the 3 series, which is the most toned down of the design language, but one wonders for how long. the thing is that a good way to judge the way a car will be is to see how much people are willing to pay for it over list price, ie to skip the queue and become a owner while it's hot. no one is tripping over themselves to own a BMW at the moment (Other than the ridiculously under made (For a reason, to keep up demand) X5). I'll be the first to admit that BMW has never been known for daring designs before, and it is a breath of fresh air in a sense. but it seems to be tainted with laughing gas for most of us because thats what we do when we hear this is the new 7/6/5 series, followed by a state of shock knowing it is actually true.

BMW may have been too arrogant in their belief in bangles designs, thinking just because it's got the blue and white propeller on the front people will automatically lust after it. now their paying for it (only the 3 series is decimating the opposition) and i'm not laying the blame solely on the one guy. he has a whole team screwing BMW out of what should be a golden age for them. Premium car sales are on the up, and BMW should be capitalising, rather than shooting themselves in the foot copying Japanese designs from people like lexus who were actually trying to copy what BMW were doing before.

[Suka]

No he did design it. He designed it then left the company. See read the article.

[itisi]

No he did design it. He designed it then left the company. See read the article.

cool suka , they should face the facts. but I think that he is doing a great job at bmw, sales in holland are booming

[Suka]

Well actually I am trying to break into the car design industry, being 15 it does give me a few years to perfect my trade. I have piles of car designs in my room, mostly from a direct side on view because I am only learning to do them in other views, they look rubbish in other words.

[IL Duce]

Are You serious?? I'm also trying to get as far as I can in the cardesign world!! What cars you prefer to draw, I mean for which producer?? I'm trying to make some Peugeot models, just like Marco Lucovic and Stefan Schultze. They both won a world-design contest for Peugeot. I can't wait to join this year to give it a shot (altough I think I won't stand a chance.....yet...hahaha)
Hey keep up and succes!!