Does New Blood at BMW Styling Houses Signal New Styling Approaches?

Since August 1, BMW has cleaned house a bit and has hired some new talent in its design houses. It's obviously too early to tell if this signals a MAJOR shift in design focus for the brand - which (with Bangle) saw major shifts in the past intended to shake up BMW's styling (again, with varying success, one can argue.)

But these relatively young designers seem to have the right background - and perhaps the "right stuff" - to send the brand at least a jolt and perhaps bring some really beautiful cars to market.

Auto Styling News wishes them the best of luck!

The new talent includes:

Adrian van Hooydonk, who runs BMW Group Design, which embraces all the Group’s brands, and is thus responsible for design at BMW, BMW i, BMW Motorrad and MINI, as well as Rolls-Royce. The various design studios, Advanced Design, design research, design strategy and DesignworksUSA all fall within his jurisdiction.

BMW Design
In the BMW Design Team led by Karim Habib, Domagoj Dukec has taken over as head of Exterior Design, Oliver Heilmer as head of Interior Design and Martina Starke as head of Colour and Material Design.

Domagoj Dukec, 38, the new head of Exterior Design, was born in Frankfurt and has worked in the Exterior Design BMW Automobiles team since 2010. He was responsible for designing the Concept Active Tourer.

Oliver Heilmer, 39, replaces Marc Girard as head of Interior Design. The Munich native has been part of the Interior Design BMW Automobiles team since 2000 and was responsible for the design of the BMW 5 Series, among other assignments. Marc Girard, 43, will assume management of Automobile Design at DesignworksUSA, a 100% subsidiary of the BMW Group.

Martina Starke, 42, is head of Colour and Material Design. The qualified textile designer joined the BMW Group in 2001 and her responsibilities have included Colour and Material Design for the larger series cars as well as for BMW Individual.
 
MINI Design
The MINI Design team led by Anders Warming welcomed Christopher Weil, 38, as its new head of Exterior Design. A Bavarian by birth, he has worked as a designer for the BMW Group since 2000, most recently for Automotive Design at BMW Group DesignworksUSA. Marcus Syring, 49, leaves his post as head of Exterior Design to join Rolls-Royce. Oliver Sieghart remains responsible for Interior Design and Annette Baumeister for Colour and Material Design.

“As head of BMW Group Design I’m very proud of the wealth of talent in my team.  I am convinced that through this restructuring we have given a significant boost to design in the individual brand studios and will continue to shape the future of BMW Group Design with success,” says Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President BMW Group Design.

Pinterest contest picks Buick Encore colors

Mashable highlights a contest by Buick to pick the interior and exterior colors for its newly redesigned 2013 Encore luxury car:

Following a call from nine influential design, fashion and food bloggers to create Pinterest boards speaking to their personal style and passions, the company unveiled the winning pinner on Wednesday night at the New York Auto Show.

The "Pinterest to Dashboard" contest is a part of an effort to connect with a younger audience and show a different, more playful side of the brand.

The top collection came from a Pennsylvania-based bed and breakfast owner Michael Wurm Jr. — who has nearly four million followers on Pinterest. His boards, which featured sea foam-colored tones and beach scenes, were picked as the inspiration for new color palates, textures and design features in the existing car.

Perhaps coincidentally, the colors fall within the family history of Buick, reminiscent of the sea foam blue/green shades prevalent in the late 1950s and early 1960s (and even later eras) especially the sea foam blue interior. (see examples below.) It's even possible that this color was even original to Buicks of a bygone era, and they pulled out the color sticks to match it.

While ostensibly the contest sought to reconnect (or connect for the first time) with younger drivers, this may actually help reconnect with OLDER drivers, especially former Buick owners who want to recapture that '60s look and feel that Buick somehow lost over the past few decades.

It would actually go beyond the "interesting" into "awesome" territory if each interior was to be completely customizable to each customer's taste. Of course all cars are, up to a point, but what if the palate was wide and extremely varied? A truly bespoke Buick like this would be a major boost for the Buick division - taking it from ho-hum luxury to bespoke luxury on a Bentley level. Imagine what that would do for the brand.

A quick note on the styling of the vehicle itself, the word "handsome" comes to mind. While surely a small vehicle, the front proportions seem well rounded and properly sized, although some will squint and see a larger version of the Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix.

1978 Buick Skylark:

 

 1962 Buick Invicta station wagon:

  1954 Buick Skylark:

With the MKZ and New Lincoln Motor Co. Moniker, Ford Crosses its Fingers

Well, it's a brand new day over at Lincoln - or should I say "Lincoln Motor Company" (I'm calling it LiMoCo.) As the video above shows, the Ford subsidiary (since 1922) has just relaunched itself with this new moniker and with the new MKZ as a halo car, which, no question, is a pretty car, based on the Ford Fusion (itself a pretty car.) Hopefully it's one with enough differentiation to justify the higher price tag.

So far, the car, and the company, looks good, though with 90 years of badge engineering - simply changing the badge from "Ford" to "Lincoln" with a few cosmetic changes inside and out - it's a history that breeds skepticism.

The introduction video comes with a slick new website (www.lincoln.com) that's large on graphics and hype but not much else. A hybrid MKZ will be available that gets 45 MPG in both city and highway driving, that's something to crow about. The rest of the fleet getting as low as 17 MPG is not, however. No doubt it all balances out to meet Federal standards, though, just as the Ford fleet does with its hybrid(s) and electric Focuses (Foci?)

The MKZ itself has a lot to recommend it. It's exterior features a slim, tasteful windswept grille and a handsome, though seemingly Dodge Charger-inspired rear lamp assembly. The tiny rear window is attractive and not at all derivative of the BMW "Hofmeister Kink" as so many others have been.

The back window hints at great aerodynamics, and the squared-off dual tailpipes are sufficiently exotic.

The interior features an acceptable level of luxury, with all the right wood and leather in the right places. The placement of the shift buttons (yes, buttons) on the center console are at once eyebrow-lifting and interesting - perhaps even logical. The buttons on the Aston Martin-like center console are flush and polished nicely, and there's no question one is inside a luxury car.

Hopefully, this attractive and serviceably luxurious MKZ and the new re-branding can pull the brand out of the trash bin, where it has been tossed by many dismissive customers for decades now.

2013 Aston Martin Vanquish. It will vanquish you.

The 2013 Aston Martin Vanquish is a gorgeous vehicle, there's no doubt about that.

The video below is the official unveiling of the car to the public by the company (though it was also shown earlier this summer.)

The lines and curves - not to mention the extremely powerful and easily recognizable exhaust note! - are uniquely and clearly Aston Martin. If anyone were to criticize, ever so slightly, it would be the tail lamps, which look kind of like cut-outs of lamps, where the tail lamps were supposed to go. (Though close-up, and at night, they do look more spectacular than a first glance would suggest.

That said, these are the kinds of details that grow on you in a car like this. And if Toyota can foist tail lamps onto the millions like they have with the Camry's "comma-shaped" lamps, these will suffice for the few who buy Astons- and these surely are better and more nicely defined.

The interior of the vehicle is masterfully crafted, and will take your breath away.

Watch this astounding video and see if you fall in love:

Designers Discuss the 2013 Range Rover (video)

In this officially produced video, designers discuss their rationale in re-sculpting the 2013 Range Rover.

It is, of course, a bit over-the-top in their verbal efforts, as usual for these kinds of video productions (especially for luxury vehicles like this.)

And yet... the design does indeed seem to have hit the mark and evokes the "heritage" of the famous British nameplate.

What do you think?