BMW reorganizing design team / staff (FAZ article)

[NGT2]

Originally Posted by kgelfen360

There is not going to be any significant design changes for years. All those cars in pipeline already. U might see something different 3-5 years from now.

Fine with me. I don’t need them to come up with anything attractive for 3-5 years. Hopefully the government regulators have struck a more realistic and practical balance between EV and ICE by then.

[hb]

Originally Posted by mbanck

From this article:



So 3 series/X3 are now lumped into entry level segment? I would have assumed they use FAAR/CLAR as divider...

I guess the "entry-level" term was a bit confusing. Mostly meaning the first level of BMW cars up to 5 Series. That was the idea.

[Bimmerfun82]

Can someone help me understand - is this German speak for “you’re fired,“ “we’re going a different direction,” or “we will make slight changes in the future maybe next decade or 2038”…? I want the entire design team fired with immediate effect and penalized to the fullest extent of the law

[monkeyman8]

Originally Posted by Bimmerfun82

Can someone help me understand - is this German speak for “you’re fired,“ “we’re going a different direction,” or “we will make slight changes in the future maybe next decade or 2038”…? I want the entire design team fired with immediate effect and penalized to the fullest extent of the law

That's what we can't tell.

[Tag]

Need some time to see what this ultimately amounts to. As of now it's too early to tell...

[FreudeamFahren18]

Originally Posted by phiishstiicks

Volvo design, both interior and exterior, are fantastic IMO. XC90 is the best looking SUV on the road (IMO). XC90 > X5 > Cayenne > Lexus GX.

I dont the incoming designer worked on the XC90, he designed the Polestar.

[BMWCompact]

Originally Posted by DFW_M

Dukec still there?

Hopefully he won’t do to Rolls-Royce what he did to BMW

[alphawawa]

Good details here:

https://www.bmwblog.com/2024/09/13/b...er-leadership/

[dephrank]

No more beaver teeth or angular designs please. We need em aggressive looking and curvy.

[WhiteFox]

Finally thank goodness hopefully hire in a new team to do something evolutionary going back to some better designs than just keeping making large changes that loose the essence of their DNA. The belief the industry has is to come up with totally different designs every 7 years so your old car looks old…not a sustainable way of thinking really and means at some point you run out of ideas to make the car different in a meaningful way. They need to think like Porsche, sell volumes like Tesla and better reliability like Toyota!

[///M TOWN]

Originally Posted by AventurinG26

They need to fire Hornydonk or whatever his name is. These latest designs are just awful. We bought an i7 because we wanted an EV that was long range and it was $34K off MSRP. I HATE the way the thing looks in front and the interior looks cheap in places with the ugly plastic “diamond” trim that shines blinding sunlight right into your eyes. The HVAC vents should have moved to electronic control since they went all in on screen only controls, but instead they used these cheap rubber little nubs that you can barely see or tell what they’re doing to the vents. They look so cheap. Just give me a nice vent design with obvious baffles to move around or do what Tesla did that works well and make it controllable on the display so I can actually get the air to blow where I need. The new 5er is butt ugly. It doesn’t even look like a BMW. The XM, yikes. They’ve also got to stop cheapening the cars by removing curve following headlights. Our i7 had an MSRP of nearly $140K but it has cheaper and much worse headlights than what my $66K M440i GC had.

According to “Rule 60” he will retire from BMW in the next year, unless BMW changes the rule itself, or makes as exception to him and him only…

I have mad respect for Mr Adrian Van Hooydonk

Don’t blame him personally, blame the board of directors as they pick the designs

[Bimmerfun82]

Originally Posted by ///M TOWN

According to “Rule 60” he will retire from BMW in the next year, unless BMW changes the rule itself, or makes as exception to him and him only…

I have mad respect for Mr Adrian Van Hooydonk

Don’t blame him personally, blame the board of directors as they pick the designs

It’s hard to blame anyone when sales are higher than ever and looks are subjective. But I think the time has come when the x3 and forthcoming x5 are objectively horrendous.

[bavarianboar]

Originally Posted by T-Rexx

I disagree.
Park a current M2 next to the current C63 and RS3 and the M2’s looks are miles ahead and genuinely looks special where the other two look bland and boring.

Design is too personal but the M2 rear bumper and lights look like a toy car, the front has become comical over time. When the M2 was first launched it has a great design, now it’s all boxy and squarish trying too hard to make it look like a muscle car.

It’s an ugly design not a good design. If you own one, you are entitled to confirmation bias.

[sg13]

Originally Posted by jmack123

Yea, I’ll agree to disagree. I’m sure far more people would agree with me than you that my P2 (for example) is a great looking car:

Not a "great" looking car. An average looking car in the sea of below average looking cars which is true for most of the BMWs these days.

Volvos are however better looking cars. Enjoy!

[jmack123]

Originally Posted by sg13

Not a "great" looking car. An average looking car in the sea of below average looking cars which is true for most of the BMWs these days.

Volvos are however better looking cars. Enjoy!

In fairness, you own a G87 which has the face of a flounder. But enjoy as well

[sg13]

Originally Posted by jmack123

In fairness, you own a G87 which has the face of a flounder. But enjoy as well

I don't yet Sir but I am interested in it.

Yes it has shortcomings like the lower front bumper, interior large screen etc etc. That's why I said most of the BMWs are also below average in looks theee days but gotta drive the itch

[jmack123]

Originally Posted by sg13

I don't yet Sir but I am interested in it.

Yes it has shortcomings like the lower front bumper, interior large screen etc etc. That's why I said most of the BMWs are also below average in looks theee days but gotta drive the itch

In fairness, I will admit I like the G87 in the light-colored satin blue finish (whatever it’s called).

No doubt it is also a great performance car.

[dadaabmw]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

It can only improve.

Don’t tempt fate. I’m sure we all thought nothing uglier than the XM could be made, until the red label XM was revealed.

[KoenG]

Originally Posted by ///M TOWN

According to “Rule 60” he will retire from BMW in the next year, unless BMW changes the rule itself, or makes as exception to him and him only…

I have mad respect for Mr Adrian Van Hooydonk

Don’t blame him personally, blame the board of directors as they pick the designs

Just remember it was Mr Van Hooydonck personally who stated that he couldn't mind a rat's ass about criticism of the current customer base. He stopped organizing design clinics because our opinions are worthless. The controversy was for him the prove that the designs were disruptive and innovative seen we're all conservative and can't recognise good design. The beaver grill and the XM which both shocked the world were to him epitomes of great design.

Such arrogance is not worth your respect. But I do agree that the responsability of the board is not to be neglected. Marcus Flash left M Gmbh also (mainly?) because his supercar project was ditched by the board in favor of the XM.

[KoenG]

Originally Posted by Masander

Bring Chris Bangle back asap

Please keep that total idiot out! He almost single handedly killed BMW. Of course the board that approved is also responsable.

[sg13]

We might lose vision or lifetime by the time BMW fixes any of their designs.....if they ever do.

[///M TOWN]

Originally Posted by KoenG

Please keep that total idiot out! He almost single handedly killed BMW. Of course the board that approved is also responsable.

🤣

Chris is laughing all the way to the bank… 🏦

Chris, has his own design studio, works at his own pace, and he’s the chef designer for Samsung Electronics.