Okay, that's not what the interviewer asked, but it's damn close. In
this Interview with Chris Bangle, head of BMW's Design Group, the Autoweek interviewer doesn't pull any punches. My favorite question and response:
AW: Why was the current 7 series such a radical design change for BMW?
Bangle: It's the model that BMW used to celebrate the first 100 years of the car and the passage into the third millennium. More important, it's larger outside, much more comfortable inside, and incorporates the state of the art in automobile technology.
AW: But the car is anything but attractive.
Bangle: I'm sorry you don't like it, but our customers do - very much so. The mission that marketing gave us was very precise: The new 7 Series must not only appeal to the 60-year-old who is driven around by his chauffeur, but it must also win over the successful 45-year-old who wants a large car that's also dynamic and sporty to drive. It also needed to have dynamic lines.
It's interesting to note that sales for the 7 series is not doing well at all -- in comparison to previous models, sales of the new 7 are absurdly low, and the 7 is being fast tracked to be redesigned. The 7 already has a minor trunklift happening this year. It's also interesting to note that this is the last question of the interview.
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