Comments on: Breaking: Chris Bangle leaving BMW!!

By: Chris Bangle presentation at TEDxMunich: GINA Concept meets Pink!

Chris Bangle presentation at TEDxMunich: GINA Concept meets Pink! — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 00:36:14 +0000

[...] leaving the company in February 2009, Chris Bangle turned to some of his long-time passions: lecture sessions at [...]

By: Is Chris Bangle heading back to Fiat?

Is Chris Bangle heading back to Fiat? — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 05:13:25 +0000

[...] in March 2009, after 16 solid years, Bangle announced his retirement from the BMW brand and temporary, from car design. Due to a non-compete agreement that expired in [...]

By: CAR Magazine interviews Chris Bangle

CAR Magazine interviews Chris Bangle — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:06:46 +0000

[...] started for BMW with a big surprise. BMW’s Chief of Design, Chris Bangle left the company after a long, profitable and somewhat controversial career with the german automaker. The real [...]

By: Taswin

Taswin — Sat, 09 May 2009 16:43:09 +0000

The great opinion divider. But I was never a fan of Bangle. In his era BMW lost its distinctive european characteristics and went too adventurous for a name the size of BMW. For the first BMW lost proportionality in its designs and you start seeing the americanization of BMW cars. I completely lost interest in BMW since he took over until couple months ago when I started noticing facelifted BMWs on the street and magazines. Strange enough my reaction was BMW seems to be back on its root and I began to suspect that maybe Bangle no longer has anything to do with these makeovers. I jumped on the internet immediately to confirm my suspicion. The news pleases me. All the best, Chris and Welcome back, BMW.

By: Link Love 6 Febuary 2009 | design droplets

Link Love 6 Febuary 2009 | design droplets — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:05:02 +0000

[...] some major happenings in Design in the past week. While Chris Bangle fans will be disappointed that Chris Bangle will be leaving BMW. David Kelley fans will be jubilant to hear about David’s nomination for an Edison [...]

By: Ale

Ale — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 23:55:41 +0000

I can´t belive it! I am a trully BMW fan, and for me this is very sad news.

He took BMW design to another level. People now have very strong opinions about design (BMW haters always screaming,. and more people buying BMWs than ever before)

We know now the names of many designers and how they work at BMW. They explains us the concept, and everything about the process of making the most amazing cars.

He will be remember as the most influential designer of our era.

Thanks you Mr. Bangle!!!!

ps (sorry for my english!)

By: Enzo

Enzo — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:24:38 +0000

Bangle was not only good for BMW to move their designs to the next level but his designs, or at least the designs under his watch, have led the whole industry. So many BMW styling cues have been copied here and there by others. I’m sad to see him go but as others have said, I’m excited for the future. New and fresh ideas are always welcome. I know Hooydonk has played a pivotal role in recent designs but maybe even he will have fresh ideas with this added freedom.

By: Horatiu B.

Horatiu B. — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:30:05 +0000

I wouldn’t really bash Bangle, I think he was and still is a great designer. And, many of you might not know, but Hooydonk played an important role in almost all of the recent BMW designs, despite people’s assumptions that Bangle designed them.

By: bunker

bunker — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:19:58 +0000

This isn’t so earth-shattering to me. BMW has pushed Von Hooydonk out in front – at least publicly – of late, so you could sort of smell this coming. If we assume that the new 7 and the new Z4 were more in the Von Hooydonk direction (and this is, admittedly, a guess), things are looking up. Look, Bangle has been the bane of the BMW enthusiast’s existence for years now, despite the fact that, in hindsight, many of his design signatures have been aped by other car companies. I can tell you that when I was poking around an Audi dealership 8 months ago, the first thing the salesman brought up as a knock on BMW was Bangle and how the cars looked compared to Audi’s more traditional, teutonic design. Maybe there was some external pressure for this. At least now that’s ammunition Audi won’t have in their sales pitch.

By: Tom Hegedosh

Tom Hegedosh — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:54:04 +0000

I’m ok with Adrian taking over

By: Giom

Giom — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:33:05 +0000

I’m sad to see him go… by now he’s like part of the furnature there.

I’m also nervous about what will happen next, but then again, BMW has always done the right thing -I mean, it’s not like Bangle is BMW like Bono is U2 or Mick is Simply Red.

No! if anything, we should be excited about the future!

By: Andrew Murphy

Andrew Murphy — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:28:39 +0000

Hooydonk as the new design chief definitely isn’t bad news. He’s come up with some of the latest, most attractive designs for BMW.

By: Artmic

Artmic — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:26:44 +0000

I won’t miss the guy. :) the 7 Series when it came out looked like a tank.
The 5 series still looks like the doors to the car were lego blocks put in place, with big spaces between the door and the frame.

By: The Lee

The Lee — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:23:05 +0000

@Andrew Murphy: +1 I can't say I'll miss him a lot, but I am a little nervous about the future. I wasn't a HUGE Bangle fan, but his stuff has grown on me a little.

By: Brookside

Brookside — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:20:08 +0000

Awful news.

By: Andrew Murphy

Andrew Murphy — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:19:33 +0000

I can’t decide how I feel about this. He’s had some highs and lows at BMW and it worries me that there will be an inconsistent design trend from one generation of BMW’s to the next.

That said, I can’t say this surprises me, Bangle comes across as a very eccentric guy – kind of a nerd on red bull.