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Join Date: Oct 2005
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| Re: Chris Bangle Now
Banglism is a philosophy unto itself
i remember when i first saw the E65, i said to myself, its odd, its not ugly, its just not the BMW we have grown with,
BMW have always been excellent carmakers, except they have never been adventurous with design since the prewar days, they were people who licked every aspect of engineering, yet gave us insipid, although immesely pleasing designs of whom the only thing that can be said is "one weiner, three sizes"
bangle (and of course hoonydonk and the team) effectively managed to unroot an age old tradition form existence and start on a tabula rasa
what bangle did to BMW and car design more generally can only be compared to such milestones as the invention of the engine, injection and other major landmarks, he took design out of the long held traditions of "form follows function" held by the engineering oriented germans, and that of "passionate organic oriented design" held by the likes of the italians although in itself an oxymoron.
bangle and co. ushered in an era of "dynamic" and "humanized" design, to used their own words, what they did was actually quite simplistic, they dared those small steps that none dared to do, like the melding of concave and convex surfaces, the powerful body lines, and an even more simplistic idea of widening the boot aperture to extend over the body (the bangle butt)
these ideas where quite revolutionary unto themselves, especially when done in combination, but their success cannot be questioned given such powerful testimonies as the spread of the bangle butt from a "lowly" kia rio to the "allpowerful" S class, the powerful body language has spread too, after so much criticism form the industry to almost all brands, and more importandly, the overwhelming sales the BMW brand ahs seen
as Osna said the E65 is a landmark design, it was that particular point that changed all, just like writing marked the difference between history and prehistory, i am sure a lot of neaderthals must have said what is writing useful for? our old cave drawings are just as good, and besides its too complex to learn to read and write, and look what came of that, think of this and you get an idea of the power and imporatnce of the E65
no revolution comes in silence, silent revolutions take too much time and ultimately leave no real mark on history, such a bold move was required by some company sooner or later, Bangle did it with BMW and threw the gauntlet to everybody else including archrival MB whose only recent "revolution" had been the twin eyed frogface of the E class in 1995.
kudos to Bangle and co, and more so for the archconservative bunch of BMW who knew what to do and when to do it. the E65 in my eyes, can only compare to the 2002, that particular model exectued with the greatest "audace" at one of BMW's lowliest points after the rover debacle and that magically turned BMW back to number 1
it is such powerful guts and audace that make or break the auto industry, and it took a bearded four eyed, once aspiring methodist preacher to overthrow decades of rotting tradition.
Banglism is essentially a dynamic design with human, not organic features, cars now have real character, especially those executed under him, not most wannabees, including the S. each BMW has its own character, its own special bits and nibbles that make a 5 a 5, a 3 a 3, etc..., and that yet all share the same general philosphy that makes them ultimately all BMW, compare this to the bauhaus of audi, or the messy lineup of insecure design MB has, and you realize the genius of Bangle and the whole designworks team
no lineup is so coherent as BMW's, and none has so much distinctive cars. no one can confuse models, unless he be a total schmuck, slap this with near perfect engineering, the bets mix of sport and lux, with bleeding edge technology years ahead of everybody else in the areas of ergonomics and cockpit control, and ultimately you are bound to get the most succesful car company of the early 21st century |
