BMW by design

The Bavarian brand is set to adopt a more adventurous styling approach, says recently installed design boss, Karim Habib

The consolidation phase is over, and now it’s time for BMW to once again push design boundaries. This is the sentiment expressed by the brand’s Lebanon-born exterior design chief, Karim Habib.

Speaking exclusively to motoring.com.au at last week's Frankfurt motor show, Habib says the challenge for the next generation of BMWs is to establish a new design language that expresses not only sportiness and elegance, but also efficiency – an attribute encapsulated by the new ‘i’ sub-brand unveiled via a pair of futuristic concepts at the Frankfurt motor show.

The articulate, sartorially immaculate Habib took on his present role last December, after a 20-month stint at archrival Mercedes-Benz – a job he claims he took on to see what he could learn “as a designer and manager”. He had previously been at BMW for the best part of a decade, during which his design credits included the current F01 7 Series and the stunning Concept CS that wowed the 2007 Shanghai motor show.

The fact he was lured back from the three-pointed star to BMW was down to a chance encounter with BMW Group design boss Adrian van Hooydonk (head of BMW Group design), who made him the proverbial offer he couldn’t refuse.

“To be in charge of all exterior design was more than I could have imagined,” says Habib.

“I’m lucky to be here at a time when the identity of what a car games stands for has changed. BMW as a company knows a different era is coming – the i cars show it. The customer has changed, and so has the brand. Our goal is to make a premium product that you can drive fast and enjoy without apology.”

Habib says the i cars are a telling pointer to the future, with the i3 city runabout due for launch in late 2013, and the premium i8 sportscar set to follow shortly after.

“BMWs were about sporty driving, and they still are, but the i cars show what Efficient Dynamics is,” Habib says.

“Cars are now more efficient than before – they’re a lot more aerodynamic, as well as being lighter through extensive use of aluminium and carbon-fibre. This has to be reflected in the design as the customer wants to know that they’re lighter and more efficient.

“It’s more about what you leave out, and doing things like making the greenhouse bigger to create the impression of greater interior space in a physically smaller package.”

Creating a large greenhouse usually compromises sporty proportions as designers nowadays strive for a two-third to one-third ratio between body and glass, but Habib and his team have cleverly got around that in the i3 and i8, in which the glass areas extend to the lower extremities of the flanks.

Habib says there’s also a delicate balance to be struck out front, as a higher nose indicates more status (as reflected by the Rolls-Royce Phantom’s huge grille), while a lower nose obviously introduces sportiness. Width is similarly critical, he says...

“Make it too wide and the car looks heavy, too narrow and it’s no longer sporty.”

The carbon-fibre structures of the i3 and i8 presented additional challenges, according to Habib.

“There are certain shapes you can’t do with carbon-fibre, and this influences the greenhouse and proportions of a car,” he explains.

“Sure, carbon-fibre is more expensive than steel or aluminium, but the cost has come down dramatically as the curing time has been shortened by a new BMW process [developed in partnership with SGL Group]. In any case, it’s worth it for the added stiffness, safety and weight-saving benefits.”

Would BMW do another Z8?

“I think that car showed we can do a really high-end product, and we’re trying to do that with the i8. But we’re not going down a retro path this time.

"What I like to do is pure beauty. An architect friend of mine said ‘beauty is a basic human need’, and I agree. I like to do cars that embody uncompromised beauty.”

That said, Habib feels the ever more stringent criteria for aero, safety and weight savings has pushed designers in a direction that has made cars better looking.

“It’s made us better designers... The aero edge in taillights [which smoothes airflow around the rear of the car] is an example. We’ve now extended those edges much further with the i cars, and the challenge for us now is how do we bring that to the next-generation 7 Series,” he opines.

“The laser lighting [claimed to offer a thousand times the intensity of LED lights] in the i8 is another example. Basically it came about because a couple of engineers decided to stay back after work and do that themselves."

There’s a particular synergy here -- the lights turn from blue to white reflecting BMW’s spinning roundel logo.

“I love the idea that someone stays behind after work and creates something purely out of passion. The E30 Touring [the first of BMW’s five-door wagon models] was also the result of engineers working after hours. I encourage people to show what they believe in, because good design can only result from passion for what you do.”

In terms of his own inspiration, Habib says architecture used to be a big influence, but he now looks closely to fashion, especially women’s clothing – specifically the way they’re tailored, materials juxtaposed and how they’re finished.

He adds: “The principle of juxtaposition of opposites applies to how we turn a piece of metal. We don’t always have to do it the way we’ve done it in the past.”

Habib says the existing F10 5 Series and F01 7 Series have brought a “certain maturity and consolidation” to the BMW brand after the polarising E65 7 Series and E85 Z4 that bookended the previous generation.

“I don’t think the E65 7 Series was a step in the wrong direction, as you have to break eggs to make an omelette. The car set a standard and influenced design for the generation that followed. That said, the F01 shifted values in a different direction.”

Quizzed on the apparent sameness between the current 7 Series and 5 Series, Habib says: “Each car’s character has differences, but they both have to be first and foremost a BMW. The 7 Series is more straight and upright, whereas the 5 Series has more curvature and stronger sculpting. It’s a sporty business limousine, and its design reflects this.”

As for the controversial 5 Series GT, which hardly seems a fitting recipient of a ‘GT’ badge, Habib explains: “The 5 Series GT is a grand tourer in the sense that it’s an ideal long-distance car that you’d use, for instance, to get from Germany to the coast of Italy.

“Sure, it’s higher than a 5 Series sedan, but we tried to give it a GT character through its silhouette, which is actually quite sporty. Can a car be sportier if it’s higher? That’s the challenge,” he proffers...

“It’s all about how you interact with the car. Things like ingress and egress, how you sit in it. In the case of the 5 Series GT, it offers a ‘command’ driving position, yet without the bulky proportions of an SUV. I believe it’s a product that will mature and we will make the concept pretty strong over the coming years.”

Habib is figuratively putting his money where his mouth is as he says he’s going to swap his current ride [a 135i Coupe] for a 5 Series GT.

Many industry observers had expected the imminent F30 3 Series to debut at Frankfurt, but Habib says the unveiling was deliberately scheduled for a later date.

“We already have a lot of new cars here [including the i3, i8, and M5], and we wanted to make sure each car gets its fair share of exposure, but you won’t have to wait too long to see the 3 Series.”

Habib remained closely guarded about the new-gen compact sedan but conceded: “You’ll definitely see that it’s a 3 Series. We concentrated on everything that was good about the E90 and evolved it for the F30.”


LATIN PASSION

Some designers are quick to nominate their top five or 10 favourite cars of all time, but Habib says Italian cars of the 1960s in general appeal to him.

“I wish I had one or two million euros for the Villa D’Este Concours [held annually on the shores of Lake Como in Italy]. This year a Lancia Stratos Zero concept sold there for 750,000 euros, which is a great price for very unique car. It’s a beautiful symbol of an era when things were brighter and nicer.”

As for his favourite BMW, he nominates the seminal 2002, specifically the Touring version. “It [the Touring) isn’t as pretty, but it’s unique.”


WHO IS KARIM HABIB?
Born in Beirut, Habib was six years old when he and his family left Lebanon following the outbreak of war in the 1970s. He subsequently lived in France, Greece and Iran before his family settled in Canada.

Habib completed a degree in mechanical engineering in Montreal, even though his heart wasn’t really in it, before moving to the European campus of the Art Center College of Design in Switzerland.

A self-confessed doodler of cars in his youth, he later completed his degree in transportation design at Art Center’s main campus in California, then joined BMW after impressing controversial former BMW design director, Chris Bangle.