The progress of BMW has been, so far, an almost exemplary tale of brand development. The key to its present identity can quite clearly be found in the work of Giovanni Michelotti (1921–80), one of the most important, though lesser-known, figures in the Turin car design world.
By the early 1960s BMW production was split between expensive cars, nicknamed ‘Baroque Angels’ (Barockengel) on account of their florid, retro looks, and diminutive economy ‘bubble’ cars, which were based on the Italian Isetta design that BMW had licensed. BMW then tried mid-sized projects, which came of age with the handsome 1962 Neue Klasse 1500 series for which Michelotti provided the characteristic geometrical architecture and ‘kidney grille’ front end. These have remained the hallmarks of the brand ever since. Indeed, each new iteration of the 3 and 5 Series cars can be seen as a step in a progressive though quite gentle morphing (usually by lowering and rounding) of the essential Michelotti form.
Intriguingly, Michelotti deployed very similar language in his work for Triumph with the 1300 and Dolomite. But though these cars were attractive and widely admired, Triumph seemed not to have the quality and industrial consistency to equal BMW and it became part of the catastrophic decline of British Leyland and the UK car industry.
BMW epitomizes a particular pattern of ‘vertical’ brand development in which every model respects a clear family architecture. The 3 Series is the German company’s most important product line.