Chris Bangle may be the name most recently associated with BMW design, but he’s just one of many men and women who have sketched and sculpted automobiles for Bayerische Motoren Werke. BMW enthusiast website BMWism.com has gone all the way back to the beginning of the brand, when a BMW was a knockoff of an Austin 7. The names we all know show up in the chronology; giants of post-World War II automotive design world like Michelotti, Bertone, Gandini, Bracq, and of course, Hofmeister.

In addition to the Italian hired guns who sketched for BMW at one time or another, a few surprising names dot BMW’s history. Josef Ganz, the largely unsung automotive engineer responsible for much of the original Volkswagen Beetle, also did contract work for BMW. Aerodynamicist Wunibald Kamm based his Kamm-Coupe on BMW 328 mechanicals. Raymond Loewy’s mid-century lines were wrought upon at least one BMW 507, and Albrecht von Goertz was a colleague of Loewy’s before he designed the 507.

In more recent years, it’s intriguing to note the diversity of backgrounds. You’ve got Bangle, Henrik Fisker, current design chief Adrian van Hooydonk (the man actually responsible for the “Bangle Butt”), and Z4 designer Juliane Blasi. Perhaps the most understated of all BMW designers is Jojii Nagashima, the man responsible for the outgoing E90 3 Series, the iconic E39 5 Series, and, along with Boyke Boyer, the E36 3 Series. Taken as a whole, BMW has a pantheon of automotive design big-thinkers, a trend that doesn’t look to be slowing anytime soon.

BMWism.com chronicles BMW designers through the eras originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The devil is always in the details when it comes to industrial design. Sure, there are some ugly and disjointed consumer products that should never have been wrought upon the buying public, but the differences between most of the things we build and buy are subtle. Paying attention to the little stuff is important, especially in the auto industry, as it’s the collection of these details that add up to produce truly memorable vehicles.

Which brings us to this cool design blog from Christian Annyas, where he’s posted 24 black-and-white images of Chevrolet speedometer designs dating back to 1941. (The 2002 Monte Carlo SS Dale Earnhardt Signature Edition speedometer pictured above is not one of them.)

Tracing the evolution of the fonts and layout of all these speedos is interesting in itself, but Annyas seems to have a more pointed motivation – trashing digital speedometers. He pictures a single digital unit, from the Chevrolet Sonic, describing it as “not an ideal situation.” To be fair, the Sonic’s speedometer wouldn’t be our choice if we had these to choose from, either. That honor would have to go to the trio of art deco 1940′s Chevy truck designs Annyas selected.

Evolution of Speed: Chevy speedometers through time originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 06 Nov 2011 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Anyone who’s ever driven through a busy city can appreciate having a view upwards. Sunroofs are good, but convertibles are even better. But while the Smart ForTwo is available with a folding roof panel, we don’t see many city cars offering the full drop-top experience. Audi, however, is here to ask, Why not? And what’s more, it’s not wasting any time in doing so.

Rather than roll out its Frankfurt Motor Show star-to-be Urban Concept as a fixed-roof coupe and then converting it into a roadster later on, Audi has opted to show us (or at least tease us with) the Spyder version right away, just a week after previewing the coupe and before the concept has even been unveiled.

Otherwise, the concept is essentially the same, with a 1+1 seating arrangement (now in the open air), lightweight carbon-reinforced plastic construction (just a little bit less of it) and an electric powertrain. Scope it out in the updated high-res image gallery and the new press release after the jump.

Continue reading Audi already going topless through the city with Urban Concept Spyder

Audi already going topless through the city with Urban Concept Spyder originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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