BMW Design Chief Bangle Resigns

The infamous designer of the "Bangle butt" was both respected and reviled. His successor, Adrian van Hooydonk, has a tough act to follow

By David Kiley

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Chris Bangle, the design head at BMW Group since 1992 and one of the most controversial and well-known designers in the auto industry, resigned on Feb. 3. Bangle, 52, the first American to be named head of design at a foreign automaker, will be succeeded by Adrian van Hooydonk, 45, a native of Holland, who has led design on BMW brand vehicles for the last few years.

As head of design for the whole group, Bangle, and now van Hooydonk, oversees design for BMW, as well as the German automaker's Mini and Rolls Royce brands.

Controversial, but Influential

Bangle achieved infamy in 2001 when he introduced the BMW 7 Series at the Frankfurt Motor Show to catcalls over its high, squared-off trunk lid that came to be known as the "Bangle butt". The car featured a system called iDrive that used a new console-mounted knob to control most of the electronic functions of the car—which also met with disapproval. Later, he drew sharp criticism from many quarters over the exaggerated "flame" surfacing of the Z4 roadster.

But to characterize Bangle's career as merely controversial is unfair. "It's difficult to find a designer in the auto business who thoroughly dominated discussion in a given decade and Chris Bangle did it in two decades," says analyst Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics of Birmingham, Mich., who has worked with several automakers on design and product planning.

When BMW hired Bangle, the company was embarking on a mission to shake up the way it designed automobiles. "We were making sausages at different lengths and management at that time and especially Chairman Eberhard von Kuenheim and technical director Wolfgang Reitzle felt we needed to break away and chart a new course for the company and the brand," Bangle said in my book Driven: Inside BMW, the Most Admired Car Company in the World.

Shaking Up BMW's Brand

His impact couldn't be missed. BMW has ranked among the Top 20 in BusinessWeek's Most Innovative Companies poll since its inception in 2006. Only Toyota (TM) has consistently ranked as high. But while Toyota has scored largely for its efficiency in logistics and manufacturing, BMW has earned its status for product innovation and design.

When Bangle began his career, BMW had a single brand with five models. As the Munich-based company closed out 2008, it had three brands and 11 products within the BMW lineup alone, with an additional model coming out later this year. BMW sold 1.43 million vehicles in 2008.

Christopher Bangle, born in Ohio and raised in Wausau, Wis., attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., and went on to work in Europe for General Motors' Opel division and Italian automaker Fiat before hiring on at BMW. Once there, he oversaw designs that would alter the trajectory of the BMW brand and the company itself, including the 2001 and 2009 7 Series, three generations of 3 Series and 5 Series, BMW's foray into SUVs, including the X5, X3, and X6, as well as the 1 Series, and the comeback of the 6 Series. He also oversaw the design of BMW's recent redo of the Mini Cooper, as well as the Mini Clubman. And he led the design of the Rolls Royce Phantom and subsequent designs after BMW acquired the British brand in 1998.