Rush hour BMW accelerates

BMW's R&D center is located in a turbulent fiberglass building in Munich, Germany, commonly known as FIZ. On the top floor of the building is a huge room of about 14,000 square meters called the "loft". The attic was empty, save for a car covered in silver canvas parked alone at the west end of the room. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows behind the car, the vast sky is covered with rain clouds. Chris Bangle is standing next to the car.

There is an uncontrollable excitement as Bangor lifts a corner of the canvas. He showed the wheels first, then the side of the car body, and then shoved the canvas to the roof of the car like a very excited master of ceremonies. He pressed a button, and the Z4 prototype slowly rotated on the rotating display table. "Look!" Banger exclaimed, "absolutely the most modern sports car, with a lot of passion."

He's got every reason to be so excited about the Z4. It was he who personally led the design team for this model.

For any automaker, launching every new car is a big gamble, and the Z4 is no exception. At least $1 billion has been spent on the design process and preparation for production of the coupe. But the stakes are much more than just getting your investment back.

BMW's redesigned flagship, the 7 Series luxury sedan, launched in January 2002, becoming the most controversial model in German automotive history. The Z4 that followed was more avant-garde in design. BMW is going all-in with these two new cars, hoping to revolutionize the concept of a sedan in people's minds. The gamble is the most dangerous moment for BMW in its 86-year history. The business performance of the company in 2001 has just set a record, and the most difficult thing is to surpass the success of the past.

Generally speaking, companies adopt risk-taking strategies only when they have no choice: they have no way out, and only bold changes can lead to a way out. BMW, on the other hand, is willing to take odd risks at the pinnacle of success.

Brand analyst Will Rodgers said: "Automakers have two choices. Either like General Motors and Toyota, stick to their market share and hold on to the situation; or go all out, Invest decisively to get the biggest win. That's exactly what BMW does."

Entering a period of acceleration and hitting the highest levels

Cars are moving very slowly, but not always at a steady pace, according to Bangor. Yes, and sometimes sudden leaps of change occur. He is convinced that the evolution of BMW has entered a period of breakthrough acceleration.

For BMW, it's time to take the leap. BMW has made a clear plan to attack the highest realm of the auto industry. The company's new president and CEO, Helmut Panke, explained the company's "strive for the best" decision: "Our goal is very clear: to make the quality and grade of every aspect of the product a leader in the global automotive industry. "

BMW executives are giving it a go, hoping a dramatic shift in consumer preferences will increase international demand for luxury cars by 50 percent over the next 10 years. Therefore, they believe that it is time to introduce an extraordinary style that goes beyond the existing concept of luxury and quasi-luxury cars.

The redesigned 7-Series is the product of this pioneering philosophy, and has also received a lot of criticism for it. Bangor's design team reshaped the rear of the Model 7, raising the trunk lid and making it wider. It also uses a digital control system called "iDrive," which allows you to control 270 of the car's functions, from the navigation system and built-in phone to surround sound and more, by clicking menus with a mouse on the screen at the top of the dash. Everything is there. The model's avant-garde appearance and new human-machine collaborative control design have put off some critics and customers.

BMW countered that compared to the first-generation Model 7 produced in the mid-1990s, sales of the new model increased by 17 percent in the same period after its introduction. Adrian Van Hooydonk, president of the Designworks Design Center, first designed the new Model 7 and modified its styling. He insists that BMW's past success is the biggest threat to the flagship model. "In the past many years, we have been very successful in shaping the external image of BMW cars, and we have been improving the design." He said. "However, if you just continue to make local details changes, you will find that the road is getting narrower and narrower, and eventually you will inevitably reach a desperate situation. By then, customers will have already abandoned you to find more innovative car brands. We must break through this bottleneck. . The goal of the new Model 7 is to push the limits of the avant-garde. You can't be a leader in the industry if you don't push hard."

Breaking the stagnant design and catering to the customer's taste

Designing a new generation of BMW cars The idea of begins 10 years ago. Shortly after Banger joined BMW in October 1992, he participated in a seminar with company executives to envision and determine the requirements and preferences of luxury car buyers 10 years from now. It was concluded that the first decade of the new millennium will be a dynamic world in constant motion. BMW's products must appeal to customers both materially and emotionally. BMW cannot just be a company that produces cars, but must be the representative of the concept of "mobility". It should be a business that encourages people to "flow".

The advertising slogan for the company's Mini Cooper sedan describes the new concept precisely: "When you drive, you just go from A to B; when you 'flow', you go from A to Z. No one tells When you go, you can do whatever you want.” The mission of Bangor and his design team was clear: to design cars that fit the spirit of people’s mobility.

The design team at BMW was not ready for the new world. When Bangor first arrived at the company, the design department was almost at the bottom of the corporate food chain. Designers have been working without a design lead for two years, and they lack a leader to defend their cause and support their point of view. In the face of BMW's strong and well-reputed technical department, the design team had no choice but to obey.

In this context, it's no surprise that BMW's design has stalled. The German automotive press sometimes refers to this conservative approach to design as "one sausage, three lengths," sarcastic that the company's new models are a mix of soup but not medicine.

BMW wouldn't say why it hired Banger, but it's clear that the company must stop making sausages in different sizes. BMW keeps all changes in design and development secret, and the selection of a new chief designer is no exception. When Bangor was selected for the high-profile post in October 1992, the news was both sudden and unexpected. The auto industry media is skeptical. Although he was a former director of the Fiat Design Center in Turin, Italy, his name is almost completely unknown outside the European automotive design world.

Banger said he was unknown when he got the job, and that's exactly what happened. But it was his humility that played a subtle role in helping him win over BMW's key designers. Perhaps by getting them to teach himself lessons, he subtly achieved leadership. At the same time, he also had to break the repressive atmosphere that enveloped FIZ, which he called "fortress-style design culture".

BMW is the exact opposite of the open enterprise. The internal hierarchy of the enterprise is strict, and the rights distribution structure is extremely strict, especially in the R&D center. Visitors must hand in their passes at the front desk, and then have to navigate through numerous labyrinthine corridors and electronic security gates to enter the design room. All outsiders are strictly prohibited from entering the center without being accompanied by an insider, even employees from other departments of the company. When they are finally allowed in, they are greeted with a loud but unenthusiastic greeting: "Outsiders!"

Create a culture of openness and collaboration

Bangor's job is to ensure that creative activities run smoothly while enhancing communication with the rest of the business. The first step he took was to push designers to take bold risks and be ready for every possible outcome. "Leaders should have the courage to take people where they don't want to go, and that's the case with the design department," he said. "People always like to work in areas they are familiar with, and they have to be pulled out of it." Bangor also Set out to create a "dutzen" culture, an atmosphere of openness and freedom where people can speak their minds. Sabine Zemelka, Head of Materials and Color Design, said: "He welcomes the occasional dissent. When a decision is made, everyone's emotions can be very emotional. It's natural because we all know that, Only by making the right choices can good solutions be designed."

Then it's a matter of working closely with the engineering staff. Bangor got into action in 1996, assembling a project team of employees from both divisions, co-led by a designer and an engineer. He provided the team with a multi-million dollar budget and sent them to a secret location in the United States of their choosing. He named the plan "Deep Blue."

The project team was tasked with making bold improvements to the X5 sports car and designing a new generation of sports cars. Production of the new sports car is planned in Spartanburg, South Carolina. But the team had another equally important task: getting designers and engineers to understand each other and recognize the importance of each other's work. Banger said members of Deep Blue could get out of the FIZ and re-encamped, avoiding those watching, including his own. After 6 months of hard work, the team put forward 6 suggestions for product improvement, and finally produced the X3 SUV sports car.

Banger said: "Designers and engineers alike realized that the passion of the BMW brand could only be guaranteed by combining the passion for technology with the passion for design. They also found that working with each other could make their work better. They can't be taught these things, they can only be learned by themselves."

Inspiring internal competition and keeping it fresh

If close collaboration is critical in BMW's design process part of the competition, so is internal competition. BMW's designers compete not only with Mercedes-Benz and Audi, but with each other in design.

To design a new BMW, Bangor often assigns up to six teams to work separately. This competition can be fierce at times, but as a result cements BMW's dominance. Whenever designers come up with an idea for the next sports car or sedan, companies fund their ideas.

Banger explained, "The key is diversity. If our people all think the same way, there's no design culture, there's just a collective opinion."

Bange is responsible for learning from many The best designs were selected from the scheme, while keeping his design team fresh and dynamic throughout the 3-4 years of new car design.

This is a rather complicated question. Experience has shown that designs that take the lead in the early stages are often difficult to win in the end. Because of this, Bangor tends to coach another group to devise a completely different approach than the leader's.

That was the case in the design competition for the new 7-Series model. Whereas early leading designs took a more moderate approach, Hoydonk took a different, lesser approach. Although he encountered many difficulties in the design process, in the end, his distinctive design stood out and became the winner.

Banger believes that BMW is willing to take this risky development strategy in the short term in order to generate huge long-term profits. Ultimately, the market will tell if the 7-Series and Z4 are the models of the times. "The statutory retirement age for senior executives at BMW is 60, which means I only have 14 years left here."

As he walked out of the FIZ, he said, "It's exactly two generations of new cars. , there are only two chances to win or lose." He left immediately, his head held high, and he drove west in a bold red 7-series sports car.

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