Posted to News on 18th Apr 2007, 00:00
To boldly go where very few have gone before...
There is something strange about odd numbered series of products and even numbered series of products, because if one is consistently good, invariably the other more often than not is poor, writes David Roberts. Take, for example, the ten Star Trek movies. The odd numbered films were, by any rational standards, pretty dreadful, from 'The Motion Picture', through 'The Search For Spock' and 'The Final Frontier', to the undeniably horrible 'Generations' and 'Insurrection'.
>The even numbered films were, by contrast, amazing. Take your pick from the likes of 'The Wrath of Khan', 'The Voyage Home', 'The Undiscovered Country' and 'First Contact'.
>I could say much the same of Australian wines. Buy a Chardonnay or a Shiraz from 2002, 2004 or 2006 and you won't go far wrong. But pick a 2003 or 2005, and you're asking for trouble.
>BMW's 3-Series, 5-Series and 7-Series, for my money, have long stood out as highly impressive ranges of cars. But when the company bought Rover, it inherited the 2-Series, 4-Series and
>6-Series which even the most generous-hearted among us would have to acknowledge as being fairly ropey examples of automotive engineering.
>If we consider the illustrious history of the BMW 5-Series, then I think we could viably argue that it is one of the best car models ever. It has set the benchmark standard for the executive saloon market, model-year after model-year, update after update, throughout its 25 year history. The first version, the E12 body style designed by industry legend Paul Bracq, was launched to the world in 1972, followed by the E28 body style in 1981. The third body style, called the E34, was introduced in 1989, and ran for nine years before being replaced by the E39. The current version, the E60, was introduced in 2004 and looks set for yet another long run. I wonder how many other car manufacturers could get away with gaps of eight or nine years between new product introductions - it surely says much about the quality of the 5-Series.
>Over the years, other manufacturers have tried to steal the 5-Series' crown as the executive saloon to be seen in, and perhaps here and there, once or twice, there have indeed been the odd car or two that might have made you think twice. But how many of those manufacturers have gone on to bring out subsequent models that could lay down the same challenge?
>Which makes me wonder about the assertion that the most critical aspect of industrial design is in unearthing that spark of creative genius that will deliver a truly world-beating product, because it seems to me that many companies have within themselves the ability to deliver such a product. The real challenge, I am coming to realise, is one of consistency: only when you are introducing products that are consistently good, consistently best-in-class, iteration after iteration, generation after generation, can you really claim to be setting the benchmark standard in your industry.
David Roberts, 18 April 2007
