Chris Bangle Quits BMW’s designer

Chris Bangle, one of the most well-known and controversial people in the auto industry, is leaving premium carmaker BMW after heading up its design department since October 1992.

“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,” the company said in a statement.

The 52-year-old American, who was the object of multiple online petitions calling for his sacking, first grabbed headlines in 2002 with his redesign of the 7 Series sedan.

The vehicle was voted one of the 50 worst cars of all times by Time magazine, along with such other infamous models as the 2001 Pontiac Aztek and the 1998 Fiat Multipla.

Adrian van Hooydonk, 44, responsible for BMW Automobile Design, will replace Bangle as head of group design.

“Love or loathe his work, Bangle’s impact on auto design has been profound. No other designer, not even legendary GM design chief Harley Earl, has so rapidly become a part of the industry lexicon,” wrote enthusiast magazine Motor Trend following an interview with the BMW designer.

“Christopher Bangle has had a lasting impact on the identity of BMW Group’s brands,” Dr. Klaus Draeger, a member of BMW’s board of development, said in a statement. “His contribution to the company’s success has been decisive, and together with his teams he has mapped out a clear and aesthetic route to the future.”

That team included Bangle’s right-hand man, Adrian van Hooydonk — who will take over as head of design.

Although Bangle was named head of design for BMW Group in 1992, he didn’t gain infamy until 2001 when he unveiled the new 7-Series sedan (pictured below) at the Frankfurt auto show. When we first saw the back end of the car, with its ungainly trunk lid, we were reminded of Sergio Pininfarina’s response to the Triumph TR7 when he saw it unveiled at the Detroit auto show. Walking from one side of the car to the other, he said of the swooping character line along its flank, “Oh no, they did it on this side, too!”

The same kind of response met Bangle when people saw the 7’s trunk, which to this day remains known as a “Bangle Butt.” Time magazine named the 7 one of the 50 worst cars of all time. Since then, auto enthusiasts have taken to using terms like “hit with the Bangle stick” to describe especially ugly cars.

We’ve never warmed to the 7, but in Bangle’s defense, it must be said that van Hooydonk was equally responsible for the car’s ample ass. And the two of them were up against some heavy design parameters.

First, they had to deal with what were new Euro-spec rear-crash protection standards, which were tougher than ever before. True, other automakers seemed to do a pretty good job meeting them — Gordon Murray did a beautiful job with the McLaren F1, for example. But Bangle also had to deal with something tougher than a bunch of European bureaucrats — aerodynamics. It’s a sad fact of nature that if you want to cut wind resistance, keeping your vehicle low in the front and high in the back is a good rule of thumb.

So, faced with needing a sturdier, higher rear end, Bangle did what he did. True, the back end of the 7 lacked a certain elegance, but Bangle was in a tough spot. As Dan Neil notes in the L.A. Times, many people think auto design is all about flowing lines and pretty shapes. The reality is there are about a million things that must be considered, and compromises are inevitable.

Not that Bangle was one to compromise. He made no bones about shaking things up, and in fact made it a point of pride, at one point telling David Riley of Business Week, “We aren’t copying anyone else’s design language, not even our own, and I think that makes some people uncomfortable.”

Bangle’s design language could be described as “quirky” and “individualistic” if you’re feeling charitable. His work on the Z4 — a style he called “flame surfacing” — divided all viewers. Industrial designer and car enthusiast Marc Newson said the car looked like it was designed with a machete. As for the monolithic, slablike Rolls Royce that Bangle penned, the less said, the better. He almost redeemed himself with the Mini, which perfectly updates the iconic original, and we give him full credit for GINA, the shape-shifting cloth-covered concept car that shatters every illusion of what a car can be.

Regardless of what anyone thinks of Bangle’s work, his place is automotive history is assured. “Love or loathe his work,” Motor Trend wrote in an interview with Bangle, “no other designer, not even legendary GM design chief Harley Earl, has so rapidly become a part of the industry lexicon. To ‘bangle’ a design is now an auto-industry verb for ruining it. Auto writers use ‘Bangle butt’ to describe a tail with an extra layer of metal on the trunk. Bangle, some auto industry rivals remind you, is only one letter away from ‘bungle.’”