German Car Zone

Whoever did write this article is a moron.

First: it can be clearly seen the some sketches are marked with date 4.2005. CS Concept sketches are labeled with date '06.

ERGO: CS is based on F01 design, not vice versa!!!!!!!

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Second: no car CAN NOT be produced in a carbon copy look from sketches - since proportions & dimensions are not exact on those sketches. Many details is changed during the design process - when particular parts have to be adjusted for production (technical & engineering issues).

ERGO: yes, any car will look much more radical & spectacular on sketches, but if exactly such car went into production it would be completely useless, and not complying to some safety rules etc.

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Third: design process goes something like this: marketing dept. gives development team instructions what the car should offer. Engineers do the outline of the car, and give the directions to design department. In design department several teams are assigned to the project - competing for the winning design: creating sketches & small models. Styling is suggested by design directors (in line with the design strategy confirmed by BoD), who also organize the processes / challenges. Some best ideas are brought to Board of Directors (as sketches, renders, and models etc), and advocated by Bangle - who is a link between BoD & design dept. BoD decides which ideas should evaluate further, and gives comments on proposals. The remaining design teams evaluate their designs for next round of BoD presentation - this time with bigger models etc. In the end 2 (or max 3) final proposals are presented to BoD (in 1:1 clay model: in "real life" look), who then picks the ultimate one. Usually they also do the presentation of final 2-3 designs outside - to present the designs in the "natural habitat".
When the final design s picked a true hard work begins: numerous fights with engineering teams how to realize the design elements, and not to compromise them much. But some design elements seen on sketches are definitily lost when entering the production.

ERGO: design process is a very complicated process. Especially the decision making part - which is based not only on personal tastes but supported by numerous elaborates (trend researches, consumer preferences researches, theorethical & philosophical aspects, financial asspects, engineering asspects etc.). Therefore the BoD should be very focused & informed (just like eg. the judges) to make the best possible decision.
Eg. in the time E65, E63, E85, E83, E87 & E60 were concieved the BoD (and also other departments) was completely occupied with Rover, and the financial fiasco BMW AG was facing. Therefore they didn't bother too much with designs, and perhaps trust Bangle too much - especially not taking financial & engineering asspect into configuration: so the chosen designs weren't executed as well as they should been (limited financial & engineering resources etc).
This time it's all different: all the elements are thought out very well, and execution is also better.

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Fourth: not many people were able to seen F01 / F02 7er IRL. And those who have seen it were blown away by its look & presence.

ERGO: claiming that sketches look significantly more radical & better than the real car (seen only in pics!!!!) is a bit ignorant. Check the car IRL: either visiting Moscow (740Li is waiting for you in that giant hourglass in the midle of Red Square), or Munich (where only slightly taped prototypes are crousing around the city).

I agree completely with Eni. Just after watching this I managed to get better picture of the design process, so I reccomend it to you: Discovery - The Birth of a Sports Car - Design Resupplyed by DoriKiN : TV Shows > Discovery Channel - Mininova - That is the torrent link, I watched it long time ago..It is about the 6-Series Development!

those look huge, Im assuming they are subwoofers located beneath the front seats?

That's correct. I have those in my car to, Hi-Fi Proffessional.

I want one

I have one complaint towards BMW. Its a shame you need to pay extra for Hi-Fi Pro. But even with Hi-fi pro, the standard soundsystem in a new Volvo is better than the Hi-fi system in a BMW.
BMW should at least offer the Hi-Fi Pro system as a standard.

One thing BMW is good at, is to milk us (the buyers) on money. (and we are stupid enough to pay extra for it)

Quite true Andereas ... but i guess the engine + exhaust note is part of the sound system .. so that compensates a little

There is much more and many more that compensates...Comparing a BMW to a Volvo. For starters BMW are the owners of the BMW brand and Volvo belongs to FORD at least for now. And that is the simple reason BMW generate extra profit from extras: To stay BMW - owned & made by BMW!!!

Hi-fi system is a small thing. A good soundsystem should be everyone right to have. Stingy bastards bmw are.