Chapter 376 New Member of the BMW Family
Speaking of which, it is still the post-oil crisis period, oil prices have not yet fully fallen, and customers in many countries around the world are still concerned about fuel consumption.
However, as a luxury brand, small displacement does not quite fit in with BMW's style.
Finally, in order to consider the market, Fang Xiang arranged two displacement engines for the series, one 1.5 and the other 1.8.
After all, these two types of engines with different displacements not only take into account customers who care about price, but also give customers who like performance more choices.
At the same time, it can also be used by GAC and Shanghai Automobile, right?
After the design was completed, the two engines have achieved significant improvements in data compared to the current models, even though there will be certain sacrifices and discounts when they are actually built and tested.
In addition, Fang Xiang recalled the first 115 that he built on a whim.
Yes, that sports car.
Now Second Automobile has more production lines, and the overall environment and situation are different from before. Fang wanted to modernize the original sports car to a certain extent in terms of appearance, power and chassis, and also bring it out.
Unfortunately, the frog shape has already been used by a bitch, and Fang Xiang naturally disdains to share the same appearance with the bitch.
Just change it to the first generation Z4.
Of course, the first generation Z4 was also launched in 03, and its appearance was a full generation and a half ahead of the next generation of BMW designed by Fang Xiang.
Therefore, the appearance must also undergo some modifications and adjustments to avoid being too advanced and having the design concept copied by other car companies.
But overall, it is still close to the design of the end of the century and the beginning of the century. What was unexpected was that once this Z4 was launched on the market, it quickly became popular all over the world, became a weather vane for global sports cars, and attracted a large number of high-end brands to learn from it.
After all, the Z4 is a sports car, so the 2.0 engine is definitely not up to standard.
In order to achieve a certain degree of differentiation and higher profits, Fang Xiang designed two Z4 models, one of which is a regular version of the Z4 equipped with a 3.0 engine power system.
The other one is equipped with a 4.0 power system and is named Z4M. This will also be the first attempt at M-POWER.
Of course, the selling price was increased by nearly half, but even so, it was still in short supply, which was something Fang Xiang had never expected.
Well, since the Z4 has an M model, the Series should also have an M model, right?
Fang Xiang, who was already addicted to design, drew a three-series M3 to replace the original 330.
Based on the basic version of the 320 body design language, a large number of aerodynamic design details and accessories that are not too exaggerated have been added, which has created a significant gap in appearance between the ordinary Series and the M.
At the same time, Fang Xiang also designated a new main color, orange, for the new M series models.
Yes, compared to ordinary colors, orange is brighter and more eye-catching, and can quickly attract attention among a group of ordinary family cars.
This is also the usual practice of performance cars.
Since the high-end version 330 of the Series has been made into the M Series, how can the Series be an exception?
Soon, the M model of the 5 Series, the M, was also completed.
While being equipped with a 4.0 engine power platform, it also adds a large number of accessories and designs, just like the Series.
As for the 7 Series... forget it. At least the 7 Series is more of a business car. Compared with the agility of the 3 Series and the versatility of the 5 Series, the 7 Series is more stable and restrained.
But the lengthened body and the enlarged angel eyes tell everyone who sees it: I am not easy to mess with, stay away from me and don’t touch me!
When all this was done, a month had passed.
That’s right, even drawing an exterior design is very time-consuming, not to mention that Fang Xiang also provides a brand new power platform.
However, before starting the interior and configuration settings, Fang Xiang had another inspiration.
The Z4 is a two-door version with a single row of seats. Can the M3 and M5 also be designed as two-door versions and convertibles?
Once this idea came into his mind, Fang Xiang couldn't let it go for a long time.
Anyway, it was just a matter of changing the drawings, so the Z4M, M3, and M5 had convertible models, and the two-door versions of the M3 and M5 sports cars were also released.
这么一算，115、118、320、m3、m3两门版、m3两门敞篷款、z4、z4m、530、m5、m5两门版、m5两门敞篷款、730和740，粗粗一数，足足有十四款车型！
比起原本的115、320、330、530、540、730、740的7款宝马家族车型，车型数量整整翻了两倍！
Cao Tianwei, who saw so many design drawings, felt both in love and annoyed.
What he loves is that all of them look beautiful and he wants them all. What annoys him is that there are 7 more models, which means that his workload, which was originally quite easy for him, has increased several times!
Yes, there are twice as many car models, but the workload is more than twice as much.
Not to mention the large number of engines that need trial production, testing, and road testing. Just with so many car models, a separate frame workshop is required for each model.
Fortunately, models on the same platform can share the same production line, otherwise Cao Tianwei’s workload would be skyrocketing.
Now that the power and appearance are done, the next step is to work on the interior.
Now, the one who accompanies Fang Xiang in drawing the pictures must not be him alone. Otherwise, with such a huge workload, even if Fang Xiang has a highly complete finished product as a reference in his mind, he would not be able to finish it in such a short time even if he was exhausted.
Yes, he has an extremely large team around him, nearly three hundred people.
The entire R&D team and senior engineers of Second Automobile Works all participated in it. Oh, and Xiao Cheng and the graduate students he brought with him were also feeling both pain and joy at this time.
The happiness is that during this month of high-intensity work with Fang Xiang, I have absorbed cutting-edge designs that I have never been exposed to before like a sponge.
Pain? Need I ask? I must be exhausted from working overtime every day!
As for the interior, considering that the new generation will be sold until the 90s, the interior uses a lot of leather and wood grain decoration, abandoning the previous large area of plastic interior.
That’s right, nowadays domestic petrochemical technology has also improved, and a large amount of plastics have become popular. In the past few years, in order to consider cost and profit issues, a large amount of plastic was used in the whole vehicle.
But now, Fang Xiang doesn't plan to use plastic anymore. Since it is a luxury brand, it should be measured by luxury standards, right?
It’s better to leave cheap stuff like plastic to GAC.
Many of the design languages previously used on Hongqi are also widely used on the 7 Series and M Series.
After all, this is the car model with the highest profit ratio. Although it is not the largest in volume, the profit of a 7 Series and M is enough to equal the profit of three ordinary 3 Series or even more. Since the profit is so high, it should be worthy of its value, right?
Including the now popular CD player, high, medium and low bass speakers, as well as the sunroof, car zone air conditioning, soft interior packaging, and the newly developed airbags.
Fang Xiang even went so far as to design a top-of-the-line configuration for the 740, with specially designed ambient lighting, bulletproof glass, a car phone and a starry sky roof!
Although the starry sky ceiling was always broken during initial testing, Fang Xiang still insisted on this design and required the supporting manufacturer to replace all the lamps if even one bead broke!
Now that we have a starry sky roof, we must use the front door and umbrella!
You know, Rolls-Royce doesn’t have these two designs yet!
It was precisely because Fang Xiang adopted a large-scale new design for the 740 that the new 740 immediately became a hot-selling item among politicians from all over the world as soon as it was released. In the end, it was transformed from a business car into an executive car, which also deviated from Fang Xiang's expectations.
So much so that not long after the new 7 Series was launched, politicians from all over the world put forward various customization requirements based on the 740.
Later, the 750 and bulletproof cars were launched and sold at sky-high prices!
This made Fang Xiang consider whether to snatch Rolls-Royce's business, so he launched the 7th generation Phantom and the 13th generation Ghost in advance.
However, the popularity of 740 and 750 did attract the attention of Hongqi. When the invitation came to design a new Hongqi, he gave up the idea.
Well, that was in 88, we’ll talk about it later.
