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By AUTOWEEK

BMW DESIGN CHIEF CHRIS BANGLE splits opinion like no other. Immediately following the Frankfurt motor show premier of his latest work, the all-new 6 Series, the 46-year-old American and 10-year BMW veteran spoke with AutoWeek correspondent Richard Yarrow:

AW: Why do you think there’s criticism of your designs?

BANGLE: I think it’s much to do with the fact that we have these extremely provocative cars and that we were doing this at a time when the whole subject of change as reported in the media was not on the same wavelength as we were.

AW: Do you worry some of your designs haven’t been well received by the public?

BANGLE: We’re not creating fashion icons and it’s not an issue whether or not we have become everybody’s darling. It’s difficult for me to imagine, in the history of cars at a time of change, that we are doing anything different to anybody else. Many vehicles that we look at today with romanticism, when they came out they were very provocative. They invoked this love-hate relationship that’s assigned to us today.

AW: We’ve seen spy shots of the facelifted 7 Series already, which is earlier than normal. How does that make you feel?

BANGLE: We facelift all our cars. It’s part of the model cycle and it was always planned that way.

AW: Tell us about the cabrio version of 6 Series.

BANGLE: It will be at the Detroit show in January, but I’m not really supposed to talk about it yet. It will have a very interesting roof, great coupe-like lines, some unique features—which is important—and it’s basically very sexy.

AW: What is the future for BMW design?

BANGLE: We will continue to evolve our philosophy. We all believe cars are truly important in our lives and are solutions to problems, not problems that need solutions.