Chris Bangle, former chief designer of the BMW group, said that the car of the future could well be based on a shared concept. According to Bangle, the car is essentially made of three components: mobility (wheels/engine), environment (cabin/safety) and car avatar (sculpture/personality).
?If we were to treat these as separate entities, then the car could theoretically come apart, and we could achieve a highly sophisticated modular product,? he said. ?You can rent out the motor by the hour when you don?t need it,? he suggested.
Bangle believes ?sharing’ could emerge as a basis for all future product functions. While factors such as mobility and environment could be found in an elevator, it is the car avatar that makes it a reflection of the owner, he pointed out.
New business models could come into play including mobile battery units, recharging stations, pay for advertising, he said. There is a need to open our minds to what a car should look like. The purpose should be happy serendipity, he said. There is a also a need for different cultures to use their own heritage and start giving their own interpretations. Recently in India, where he held a meet with design professionals and students at Lavasa near Pune, Bangle urged students to interpret India?s cultural values into the car design. Local culture confidence is good, he added.
He said the Indian car market is highly controlled by external parameters and therefore artificial. Asked if he would love to work on reviving cars of the past and come up with his own interpretations, Bangle said he preferred not to work this way and would instead come up with his own designs and techniques.
Gina ? the last concept car that he designed at BMW challenged the materiality of the car. More than a car made out of cloth, it opened up a new design philosophy for Bangle and many others. Bangle is now exploring the implications of the Gina philosophy with like minded partners in a Gina studio.
Bangle spent 17 years at BMW, becoming their longest serving director. During his somewhat controversial career at BMW, Bangle established himself as one of the most influential and important car designers of his generation. This was the time when BMW surpassed Mercedes Benz to take the title of global leader in premium car sales.
Well-known for standing by his designs and vehemently defending them against criticism, Bangle retired from BMW in late 2009.
Now at Piemonte hills in Italy, Bangle is busy transforming a farmhouse into a home, a studio to house his design consultancy Chris Bangle Associates, and a vineyard at the back that will produce local Dolcetto wine. Bangle remains active on the design scene. He is busy lecturing and running workshops around the world, dissecting car design and finding solutions for future mobility. Bangle has also been designing products for unnamed clients through Chris Bangle Associates.
The idea would be to have fresh young designers with new ideas working at the studio, he says, where the studio would not be restricted to car design alone and work on a mix of art and design.