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Thanks to the gents behind the excellent CarDesignNews, who already brought you one of the best videos to emerge from the Geneva Auto Show, we present what the kids would call some “real talk” from the bête noir of the car design world, Chris Bangle. Bangle breaks down the problem of modern supercars (where’s the narrative?) and explains how supercar branding is reflected in sexual relationships. Good stuff all round.
11 Comments on “Chris Bangle Talks Supercars...”
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I hate to admit it, but he has a point about the glut of boring look-alike super cars.
Dan Neil makes the same point about supercars as well in a recent review on the WSJ. After driving the McLaren MP4-12C, he knows he’s driven the ultimate engineering accomplishment for the price-point (quarter-million). But it leaves him flat. There’s no drama, charisma, loin-stirring passion there. Not enough gonzo-bonkers in it.
Maybe the special is worn off the category. Or maybe we’re all just growing out of the pubescent hot-chick-car-poster-on-the-wall mentality of supercars.
Is there any current supercar that anyone aches for right now? Like the way a freshman looking at the senior homecoming queen aches?
He just walks around without body guards? I’d prefer a designer who wasn’t 99% bullsh*t artist, 1% talent.
Can I interest sir in an Engineer then? Designers at this level are the DEFINITION of bullshit artists – whether you are Pininfarina, or recently deceased from BMW.
+1 CJinSD
I had to watch the clip twice; the first time I thought “wow, he’s right. A new “design language” is needed, its all already been done”
Then I watched it again. He doesn’t actually have any new ideas (bitching about the A pillar?), and overgeneralizations that remind me of the guy at the bar who has an opinion on everything but a solution to nothing
I don’t actually get Bangles point here at all. First he talks about how Supercars have to be somehow “politcally incorrect” (what does that even mean in this context?) or exceptionally designed, which apparently has not happened recently.
Yet later on he seems to be ok with Ferraris – even though they are neither incorrect, nor exceptionally designed. He does seem to think of Lambos as “politically incorrect” – even though its been years since he thought a car was and there is a new Lambo right at that show. And that Lambo certainly doesn’t look like a 917 or GT40 to me…
Then he picks out the Veyrons A-Pillar as his example – sadly without reaction from the cameraman/interviewer. I’d really like to know why the A-Pillar – it certainly isn’t anything special, but neither are any of the A-Pillars Bangle himself has designed for convertibles. Plus, if you are going to define a Supercar as “politically incorrect”, wouldn’t the 1 Million, 1000hp, 400km/h, 1l/km Veyron fit that bill better than any other car?
How many supercars did Bangle bring to market again? I forget…
I’m trying to decide who gave the flightier, all over the damn place, interview — Bangle or Charlie Sheen. Hmmm. Did the cops come this morning to take away Bangle’s kids?
To me, the appeal of the supercar is the playboy/rock star/secret agent lifestyle that most men secretly wished they lived.
Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman had an interesting blog series on the topic, with far more insight than Mr Bangle:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-minds/201007/life-in-the-fast-lane-part-i-evolution-the-fast-life
I’ll second that Charlie Sheen comment. Ego is just so important in the car design biz. Or is it merely prevalent for no apparent reason?
Either way, Bangle needs his own Sitcom. I’d call it “The Axis of Design Power.”
Was he tipsy when he gave that interview?
i do agree that there really hasn’t been much supercar design innovation in the last 10 years or so. The Pagani Zonda or Ferrari Enzo were perhaps the craziest original designs in that span. Nothing since.