Good points mo-i and rk.
I don’t disagree, but was trying to dig deeper into the semantic of formed sheet metal, vs the larger brand association. Also trying to separate the pain of nostalgia for those “authentically German” older cars with the modern company designing cars for the future.
Bangle’s detractors were most certainly BMW enthusiasts and prior owners… but most of them did not understand that he was not designing the new cars for them, but for a newer, larger, international audience.
Hand-craft and solidity are evident in the sheet metal, but the Teutonic and precision notions are reinforced in the brand messages and a whole host of subconscious references. You can’t deny that there is a trace feeling of a 1940’s German war machine in the older BMWs, M-Bs, and VWs, and the relative dilution of those formal references is a cause for alarm in “Teutonic” design adherents.
(Mercedes IMHO especially is a mess of cross-referenced details and vintage-y country club references…even the high-end cars like the SLS are not immune.)