Autos September 9, 2008, 9:40AM EST

BMW 7 Series: A Slimmer Bimmer

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Perfect Harmony

Bangle, while making no apologies for a car that earned a spot on Time magazine's "50 Worst Cars of All Time," nevertheless told BusinessWeek.com that the company's engineering and design departments are much more integrated today than they were in the late 1990s, when the current Seven was designed. "The engineers did a super job of giving us the backbone of mechanical componentry and physical dimensions to work with so the designers could really achieve that sense of perfect harmony."

Indeed, the 2002 Seven presented several problems for designers they didn't face this time. The car housed a new engine that required a hood about 5cm higher than what designers felt was optimum. The overall car was larger, with around 30% more sheet-metal surface on the sides of the car. And the rear of the car had to be kept short, yet it was decided that the opening had to be larger and much easier for drivers to get items like golf bags in and out. Auto industry analyst James Hall of Detroit-based 2953 Analytics says the exaggerated trunk lid on the old 7 Series was necessary to stabilize the car, both in terms of keeping the rear of the car planted firmly on the pavement at high speeds, as well as laterally. "It wasn't ideal, but very necessary," says Hall. About the new Seven, Halls says, "It's a very nice piece of work in every way."

Bangle says that BMW engineers and designers worked separately on the old car. Engine designers were not oriented to think in terms of how the size or configuration of the engine would affect the designer's job. "The engineers this time really came toward us to establish much more favorable proportions.…In the 1990s they were just doing everything they could to solve the problems [of engine power, fuel economy, packaging, safety, etc]."

Bangle is emphatic in saying that he isn't passing the buck or apologizing for the old Seven. "We had a set of problems to solve, and we have seen that other companies have solved them pretty much the same way."

Shifting the Shifter

Besides the rearview, the other big criticism of the old Seven was the iDrive, a mouse-like controller in the console that controlled some 700 functions for the telephone, entertainment, climate, and navigation systems. To make room, the gearshift was moved from the center to the steering column where a fragile feeling, and much disliked, electronic shifter took driver from Park to Drive. The new Seven moves the shifter back to the console, and puts a smaller, redesigned iDrive controller to the right of the shifter and provides shortcut buttons to frequently used functions. The system resembles the Audi system, which came after iDrive, but has been reviewed much more favorably. Indeed, the new iDrive 2.0 works far more intuitively. I found all the relevant controls almost instantly, and I hadn't used an iDrive in more than a year.

When BMW launched the iDrive, it was lambasted online just when blogs and Internet forums were cracking up and gathering steam as a force in the media (some 14,000 signed an online petition to have Bangle fired). The company was seeking to streamline the packaging of increasingly complex electronic controls. "We were out front and so we took more than our share of criticism from people who were unfamiliar and uncomfortable with something so new," says BMW North America marketing chief Jack Pitney.

The launch of the new Seven is a critical step for BMW as it seeks to boost sagging profit margins. Such cars attract well-heeled buyers who do not skimp on high-profit extras, quickly turning a car with a base price of around $80,000 to a living room and office on wheels for over $100,000.

O'Donnell and Bangle are quick to point out that the current Seven is the most successful Seven ever in terms of unit sales. Still, it has not kept pace with principal competitors. Sales of the current model, despite a 2005 "refresh" that tweaked the iDrive, dash controls, and taillights, never managed to overtake those of the market-leading Mercedes-Benz S-Class. In 2007, Mercedes-Benz sold 85,500 S-Class cars, compared with fewer than 50,000 Sevens.

It's hard to believe that this new Seven will receive anything like the volume of brickbats its predecessor took in 2001. In fact, the car's design seems to fit so well in a string of well-received vehicles like the latest 3 Series, 5 Series, and utility vehicles like the X5 (BusinessWeek.com, 4/27/07) and X6 that Bangle may risk some saying he is playing it too safe, compared with the edgy, avant-garde reputation he and the company have built up since the 2002 Seven appeared.

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Global Auto Industry
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Kiley is a senior correspondent in BusinessWeek's Detroit bureau.