Jun. 25, 2006 - Ultimate Marketing Machine

I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention to the new BMW ads popping up in places like your favorite car magazine or cable channel, or more outré websites like www.theonion.com and www.flavorpill.net  but I, your humble servant, has.  Ushered in by the new marketing director who discovered that a whopping 75% of the people he had surveyed weren’t even considering a BMW for their next luxury class vehicle purchase, the new ads come from the Austin, Texas based ad agency GSD&M. 

GSD&M is best known for their marketing campaigns for Wal-Mart, Southwest Airlines and Krsipy Kreme donuts.  BMW’s new Vice President of Marketing, Jack Pitney came over from MINI.

The feeling is that BMW’s marketing has been too narrowly focused on the driving enthusiast by touting almost exclusively the performance aspects of BMWs.  With new BMWs coming on line that are branching into areas where BMW has never been before, such as the X5 and X3 trucks, and a new minivan-like crossover car based SUV thing, Jack and company have decided it’s time to branch out the marketing theme as well.  The 33 year old tagline “The Ultimate Driving Machine” is being given a rest in the search for a new class of customer, a class referred to by GSD&M as the “creative class.” 

The creative class includes such people as artists, architects, engineers, writers, entertainers and scientists—people who use their creativity to solve the problems of their chosen professions.  These people are believed to be early adopting trendsetters whom the rest of the hoi polloi will clamor to emulate.  And thus the other 75% of people who do not find BMW on their radar yet will begin to see a blip as the hand sweeps round.

To a guy like me who sees the “Ultimate Driving Machine” as the best tagline and motto for a car company ever conceived this “creative class” marketing scheme sounds like nothing but mumbo jumbo wrapped in a $500 an hour consulting bill.  But I’ve been wrong before—I couldn’t stand the evil rabbit “fast” ads or the truly terrible, almost offensive, mad German scientist ads for VW, and have since been told they worked.   Not sure what class of people they were aiming for there.

At least some of the ads I’ve seen from BMW’s new collaboration with GSD&M are good, no matter what their reasoning may be.  The first one that I saw is what I’ll call the “match the car company with the parent” print ad.  It made the none-too-subtle point that, of all the high snoot car companies out there, BMW is the only independent one.  Mercedes-Benz is beholden to the Daimler and Chrysler merger, Jaguar and Land Rover must ask permission from Ford, Lexus sprang from the loins of mother Toyota, and Audi is merely an offspring of the lowly People’s Car Company.

Another ad talks about creative risk by boldly highlighting the rear end of a new 7 Series—the design that shook the BMW world, and by the looks of the many me-too copies on the market today (the new Mercedes S-Class is a case in point), influenced car company design houses around the globe.  I find this ad particularly funny because it not only pokes an exhaust pipe in the eye of the august motoring media; it also speaks to the letters section of the Roundel and all the amateur style police that write in their monthly Bangle grievances.  It still doesn’t make that rear end look any better, but at least BMW is not shirking from it.

There are many more new style ads coming so be on the look out and see if you’re part of the creative class that BMW is looking for.

Nov. 19, 2005 - The Sincerest Form of Flattery

Oct. 17, 2005 - Design Matters

I had the great honor of being on the vehicle selection committee for the 2005 edition of the Eyes on Design Automotive Exhibition held at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford house in Grosse Pointe this past summer.  This is a unique event in the world of car shows because of its focus on good design over simply good restoration.  It’s the mission of the annual exhibition to showcase the best of automotive design and styling from around the world and from the entire history of the automobile.

My particular area of responsibility this year was post-war German cars, which included a great many BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes, Porsches, Volkswagens, Audis as well as examples from more obscure brands such as NSU.  Members of the selection committee first decide what the significant models are in their respective category, and then they hunt down fine examples and cajole the owners to bring them to the show.  The theme for this year’s show was great design from around the world

BMW was well represented in my category, including the ubiquitous 2002, a really fine and unusual bright red 3.0 CSi, as well as a more modern 635 and Z1.

It’s no secret that current BMW design has taken a hit from critics, journalists, and the BMW faithful alike.  The frustration that many people feel about the design direction BMW is heading is a frequent topic on internet message boards, car magazine letters to the editor, and BMW club gatherings.  And thanks to the heritage and consequent passion the BMW brand elicits, the arguments are many times heated.  My unscientific survey of the prevailing opinions is 80% negative and 20% favorable.  Many times the best people can say about a new design from Munich is “it grows on you.”  The biggest targets of the taste police are often times the Z4 and the 7 Series, with more muted rumblings hurled at the 5 Series, and X3.  The new 3 Series is a refreshing surprise to many thanks to its more toned down look (or maybe because people feared the worst).  To be sure, the designs are at the very least polarizing, with equal amounts of zeal on both sides of the debate.

Thanks to my involvement with the Eyes on Design, I took the opportunity to examine BMW design more thoroughly than I ever had in the past.  BMW has had some really great, ground breaking designs throughout its history, starting with the 1930s 328 and going all the way up to the E24 6 Series “shark” from the 1980s.  Some significant designs in between include the drop dead gorgeous 1956 through 1959 507, clean 2002, stunning 3.0 CSi, groundbreaking Z1 and more recently, the current generation M3 coupes.  I also have a particular fondness for the designs of Claus Luthe, Chris Bangle’s predecessor, which include the E30 and E36 3 Series, the E32 7 Series and E34 5 Series as well as the unjustly maligned 8 Series coupes.

But what makes a car look good?  I have been a student of the automobile as art for many years now, and I have come to formulate some basic precepts which turn me on when I see a car.

The most important aspect of a car’s design to me is form and proportion.  Take all the chrome appliqués off, remove the cut lines, antennae, and any other superfluous protrusion on the body and see what it looks like.  Is it clean?  Can you follow the form from front to rear without running into a  “bump” or awkward curve?  Can you imagine it in motion?  Purity of form is what I look for when I analyze the shape of a car. 

The proportions should also be correct for the type of car it is. In my opinion, front engine, rear wheel drive cars ought to have long hoods and short decks (the typical BMW proportion).  This lets the viewer know where the power comes from and where it is directed.  The Ferrari 365 GTB/4 (Daytona) is the most perfect example of this proportion in a sports car and is easily one of the best looking cars of its type ever designed.  The E46 3 Series Coupe (especially the M version) and the E36 3 Series sedan are prototypical examples of this golden rule.  Short overhangs in the front also aid this proportion.

Mid and rear engine cars should have different proportions with the length of the car biased to the rear.  The Lamborghini Miura is the best of this genre (as well as the more insane but less beautiful Diablo).

Stance is the second thing I look for.  And by stance I mean how the cars sits on its wheels and tires.  Low and wide is my preference.  Just a bit lower in the front than the rear gives the car a “ready to pounce” look, a flat stance or rear lower stance puts the car into motion, even when its standing still.  I lowered my E46 M3, and while the average person may not notice what was done, they do seem to notice something.  That’s what stance can do.  Wheels at the corners, short front overhang, low to the ground all add up to create an undeniably aggressive or sporty look.

The third aspect of a car I look at when analyzing the design are the details.  Are the cut-lines logical, do they add to the shape?  Are they tight (well matched body panels, tight seams add to a quality look).  How about “jewelry” such as badges and bump strips, chrome bits, lights, grills, mirrors.  In general I like my forms naked, with as little adornment as possible (the first thing I usually do when I buy a car is take the badges off— but I keep the Roundel). 

I do not like a great deal of chrome or “bling” in today’s parlance, but I do like some just as accent.  A clean well thought out form, with the correct proportions does not need jewelry   The E46 has just the right amount of these details.

The wheels are a big part of the equation when it comes to everything from details to proportion and stance.  I prefer a lightweight looking wheel on a lightweight looking car.  In other words the wheels should match the overall form of the car.  Large heavy chrome-laden wheels on a 2002 would look terrible on the otherwise light looking design.  Large heavy looking wheels work on the new 7 and 6 Series cars because the body exudes a look of stoutness or weight (or described by BMW marketing as “presence”). 

The correct mixture of all three of these ideas— form and proportion, stance, and details— create a good looking car.  When it works its magic, when it doesn’t its an Aztek. 

It is not an easy task to do correctly as witnessed by all too many of the cars on the road today.  Many things conspire against the designer, including government regulations, packaging concerns, ease of assembly, and cost.  Modern BMWs are struggling to find the right mixture.  While the design team is trying to send the company in a new design direction (the benefit of which is debatable considering the passion for the existing cars), they have not yet fully created a mature look that works.  All of the new style BMWs have some interesting points, but the whole is neither cohesive nor beautiful.

Oct. 7, 2005 - 7 Minutes 42 and 9 Tenths Seconds

So there I was sitting, whacking away at the defenseless little white on black keys of my Dell computer when an email chimes in.  I was getting bored with what I was doing in the word processing window of the computer so I quickly jumped over to the email sliding door and let whatever fresh news there was in.  The email was titled simply “7:42.9”  I opened it up wondering just exactly what that subject line was trying to tell me.

It turns out the Danish race car driver, Jan Magnussen had earlier that month ticked off a production car record lap at the Germany’s famed Nuerburgring.  That number in the subject line was his record breaking time of  7 minutes, 42 and 9 tenths seconds— one tenth of a second faster than the hitherto king of the ‘Ring Porsche GT3 RS.  And which car did Magnussen use to dethrone the king?  His very own Chevrolet Corvette Z06.  The all conquering, 198 mph, 0-60 mph in 3.6 second Chevy from Bowling Green, Kentucky.  All yours for under $70,000.  If ever there was an American car to be proud of, the new Z06 is it.  I have to admit, I felt like thumping my chest at all those six figure European makes with there precious pedigree and self proclaimed superior engineering.  Ha!  Here we have an American car that is not only fast, its quick on its feet as well.

I calmed down shortly after the “Star Spangled Banner” began to fade (preceded by Ray Charles’ “America the Beautiful”) from the emptiness between my ears, and began to think about sports cars in general and the fact that BMW doesn’t have one.  Sure the Z4 is a sporty car (and the Z4 M Coupe promises even more).  And yes, the M3 is a fast car and quite accomplished around the ‘Ring as well.  The M5 and M6 are fast, but not like a real sports car.  They are simply too large to be considered as anything but a luxurious sedan and coupe.  Not since the M1 has BMW had a true sports car that can compete with the likes of a Porsche 911, or Ferrari 430, Lamborghini Gallardo or even the Ford GT and Corvette Z06.  And I say it’s time BMW got back into the game.

I am hopeful, for there have been rumors that a mid-engined supercar is in the works.  And even if it would never match the Corvette in value, it would at least be able to run with it on a track. 

BMW has any number of engines currently or coming soon that would be suitable in a sports car.  The wonderful V10 from the M5/M6 duo has the power.  Or maybe the new M tuned V8 engine soon to be harnessed by the next generation M3.  All they need now is a car. 

Since this brand new blog is required reading by Dr. Panke’s top officers over in Munich I will be so bold as to suggest the perfect man for the job: Gordon Murray.  Murray, if you will recall, has experience in turning a BMW engine into a supercar. Witness the BMW powered McLaren F1, still the best car in the world in my opinion.  He took a glorious Paul Rosche engineered V12 masterpiece and created a car equal to it.  He can do it again with a new generation engine.  And thanks to the Mercedes SLR debacle, I hear he is available.

So, Dr. Panke, send Murray a 500 or more horsepower BMW engine and ask him to build a car that will go around the Nuerburgring in something less than 7 minutes, 42 and 9 tenths seconds— quite a bit less because we want to keep that record for a while.  Let him to set up a small team and give him free reign over the design and development.  It’s time BMW had a sports car again.