Bangle raises possibility of CLS, R-class rivals
BY MARTON PETTENDY | 28th Nov 2006
But the normally guarded director of BMW Group design revealed enough clues on the eve of last month’s Sydney motor show to indicate at least two all-new models are in BMW’s product pipeline.
Mr Bangle shed more light on both a people-mover to rival the Mercedes-Benz R-class "sports tourer" and a "four-door coupe" to compete with the same arch-rival’s popular CLS-series – both of which have long been expected to join an expanded BMW range before the end of this decade.
Although he was adamant the people-mover market was a no-go zone for BMW, he did not rule out the possibility that BMW’s internal Space Functional Concept study may bear fruit in the form of a new model, which is likely to be named the V Series – but only if it can be given sufficient "character".
Former BMW AG chairman Dr Helmut Panke is on record as saying the SFC study aims to investigate the feasibility of a vehicle for the executive on the move, with more flexibility than a sedan but not necessarily more seats. Dr Panke described it as "a luxurious driver’s car, but not a people-mover".
GoAuto sources indicate the V5 will be based on the 5 Series rather than the next-generation X5, which debuts globally at the Detroit motor show in January, and will most likely offer just five seats.
The other additional BMW model is best described as either a 6 Series SUV or an X5 coupe.
Designed to give BMW a representative in a premium niche market dominated by the CLS and Maserati’s Quattroporte (and to be joined by Audi and Aston Martin – the latter via its Rapide concept), BMW’s four-door sports “coupe” should offer four seats underneath a coupe-like roofline.
While a low-ride, rear-drive derivative could also appear, BMW’s CLS-fighter "sports crossover" is expected to meld SUV with coupe by employing the X5’s high-riding all-wheel drive platform.
"Mini-vans, people-movers or commercial vans are generally an area where BMW would not go," Mr Bangle said. "The idea that sheer driving pleasure is at the heart of the company is staying there – it's the driving parameter behind every car we build.
"But there's more to it than that. Over the years BMW has seen the difference between cars that have iconic capabilities and cars which don't.
"Suddenly we created a car like the X5, which out of the blue - despite the fact that people said four-wheel drive, off-roadish vehicle registered as a truck, how could it be a real BMW? - suddenly became something of an iconic type of vehicle.
"In fact, it started something from our competitors and really opened up the market for the sports activity vehicle.
"Cars like that have an enormous amount of character, which behind the closed doors at BMW it's one of the number one discussions.
"If it doesn't exude that look and feel that produces character and if cars are by their sheer nature so much a part of the beige background of the world of transporting from A to B that you would never even ask for character, then BMW would shy away from it and never go there.
"And right now that includes min-vans or people-movers.
"But if they're vehicles that no-one's ever done before and perhaps have the potential to have enormous character...
"It's difficult for me to draw limits around this company... but this is a company full of surprises.
"What is it when you cross off-road with coupe, what is it when you take the idea of space and add the word emotion to it? "These are the types of vehicles BMWs is attracted to."