Filed under: BMW, Design/Style
Controversial designer Chris Bangle, the man behind the notorious E65 BMW 7-Series “Bangle Butt,” has some rather sharp criticism for the current crop of automotive designers in an upcoming full-length interview with Automotive News Europe. The preview, posted on Automotive News, details parts of the interview, with the always vocal Bangle lamenting the state of modern automotive design.
“Even concept cars today simply anticipate the next production model coming down the line. Is this innovation? No. And at the end of the day this is what’s preventing car design from moving into a new era.” Controversial as Bangle’s design philosophy may be, we can’t help but think he has a point. His so-called “flame surfacing” at BMW and other stylistic elements had a huge influence on modern automotive design, although as the years have passed, there hasn’t been much innovation on the same scale.
Interestingly, Bangle also mentions that he’s been courted by a few manufacturers that wanted to install the American as the head of their design teams. He’s flatly rejected them, telling ANE, “It’s not something you can do part time, you have to do it with all your heart and soul or you’re going to get it wrong.”
The full interview with Chris Bangle will go live at on Automotive News Europe’s website on Monday, September 2.
Bangle urges auto design shakeup, says industry not innovating originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Aug 2013 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Chris Bangle, the controversial former head of BMW design, has joined forces with Samsung to oversee the design of notebooks and phones. Bangle, you may recall, left BMW in 2009 after 17 years to focus on his own design projects.
