Chris Bangle heading back to Fiat?

BMW - Chris Bangle

Chris Bangle – the enfant terrible of car design – is rumoured to be picking up his sketch pad again after leaving BMW early last year.

Bangle left a super-controversial legacy at BMW – so controversial in fact that there was a ‘Stop Bangle’ petition when his first design, the previous generation 7 Series was unveiled.

However for every Bangle-basher there is a Bangleite and I consider myself amongst the latter. His designs may not always be exactly easy on the eye but they are always challenging, intriguing and have genuine intellectual backing – how many other car designers describe their cars as ‘Deconstructivist’?

Since leaving Munich, he has set up his own design consultancy, Chris Bangle and Associates, but now rumours are circulating that he’s ready to cosy up to old friend, Fiat.

It was at the Italian company that Bangle cut his teeth as a junior designer before heading the stunning Fiat Coupe project.

Whether these rumours are true or not, the thought of the great man becoming design director of the Fiat group’s brands is mouth-watering. With Fiat itself, Lancia, Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Ferrari to its name – not to mention its recent acquisition of Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep – we may well see a whole range of Bangled cars from, teeny city cars right through to supercars.

Let’s just hope that ‘deconstructivism’ only refers to their design language and not their build quality.

By Owen Ready