Recently completed by third-year students at Turin’s Istituto Europeo di Design was a BMW-sponsored project aimed at visualizing concepts for what a BMW would look like in 2015.  With the theoretical deadline just a short 7 years away, the students reached as far as possible, stretching their creaitivity.

The project was overseen by BMW Design Chief Chris Bangle himself, with help from Thomas Plath, Director of Model Techniques and Process Management, and Anders Warming, BMW Exterior Design Director.  The 35 students were divided into 18 teams to develop the vehicles, of which 12 were selected to be completed.  Of those 12, 8 were turned into 1:4 scale models and 4 were CAD.

The specifications of the project included maintaining BMW’s design heritage, with an emphasis on nature (wind, the sea, flowing movement) and emotion (music, socializing, etc).  While this Design language may seem very similar to the recent Mazda work being done, it led to several varied takes on the direction, from concepts that mimicked the “living” BMW Gina concept to vehicles straight out of “I, Robot”.  Students had to focus not only on the exterior, but the interior as well.

BMW ZX-6 Concept by Jai Ho Yoo and Lukas Vanek

Take a look at several of the concepts after the break.

[Thanks to CarBodyDesign.com for the images and information]

BMW Vela Concept by Andrea Corona, Alex Mastinu and Yim Sumi

BMW ZX-6 Concept by Jai Ho Yoo and Lukas Vanek

BMW Vela Concept by Andrea Corona, Alex Mastinu and Yim Sumi

BMW AFRICA concept by Raphael Laurent and Mihai Panaitescu

BMW AFRICA concept by Raphael Laurent and Mihai Panaitescu

BMW SNUG concept by David Raffai, Kevin Schlaepfer, Andrea Torchia and Alberto Usai