The ties that blind

Like most industries, the car industry's history has seen some dreadful ties. Most of the shockers have turned up at motor shows after bets have been lost, but not this one.

Standing in the midst of a set designed by the same people who managed the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony and mixing with the comfortably open-necked members of BMW's design establishment, Josef Wüst's silver-grey number stood out. Embarrassingly.

Except the 5-Series Project Director wasn't embarrassed. The hard-working, cheerful German has just turned 50 and, he proudly explained, the crook tie was a Christmas present from his son.

It turns out the engineer's 19-year-old offspring has already displayed a level of thoughtfulness and innovation (if not taste) rare in teenagers. Knowing his father had dedicated four years of his life to the all-new 5-Series, he organized to snare a jpeg version of a BMW media presentation, then took it to a Munich fashion house to organize his dad's gift.

Touched, Wüst Senior promised to wear it at the launch. And, to widespread mirth, so he did. And he had the good grace to seem like the only person not embarrassed by it.

But that's part of the Wüst appeal to BMW's management and that's why he was entrusted with managing the gestation of the car BMW regards as its signature; the one that embodies everything it can do.

Design director, Adrian van Hooydonk, quietly praised Wüst as one of the few engineers whose opinions on design he bothered to investigate.

"He always pushed us to get the best result, rather than the cheapest option, and there'd be 20 or 30 places around the car I can see that it turned out that way directly because of him.

"The lights, for example. He pushed us to put in another LED in the middle row of the front indicator for visual balance where most project managers would have asked us to take one out for cost."

While his name is not on the credits, he was also heavily involved in both the 7-Series and the 5-Series GT. While both cars share a lot of 5-Series parts and both cars arrived in the showrooms ahead of BMW's mid-sized sedan, the 5-Series was actually engineered and designed first.

"We started the 5-Series in September 2006, and it wasn't hard to do all of them together, because I can see all the other project directors from where I sit."

He has already taken delivery of chassis #1, the first certified full-run 5-Series production car, but his rides haven't all been in the lap of luxury.

He once steered Leopard tanks for the German army while the Cold War still raged and the Berlin Wall still split the traditional capital. He still carries a licence to operate everything except motorbikes.

"There's compulsory military service in Germany, so I still have all the licences they gave me. I actually still have my tank licence as well. I'm licensed for the Leopard and even the M55 tanks.

"They asked if anybody from the combat groups had experience with mechanics, so I said I did. I thought it would be helpful for my university course in engineering. I also figured that if I was way back there, nobody would shoot at me.

"I got certified with all the trucks and tanks I was supposed to be fixing. They started me on things like Unimogs, then all the other trucks and smaller tanks in the army. If it's big and heavy and can smash through things, I am allowed to drive it.

"But I went back to university and told them all about my experiences in the Army and they cut a year off my practical intern requirements, so that worked well."

While he rarely gets behind the wheel of a tank these days, his Army career gave him a love of off-roading that has never left him.

His "present" to himself when the 5-Series rollout (which will include a Touring wagon and a long-wheelbase version for China) finishes, will be a month-long, 4X4 safari through southern Africa.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing next. Nobody's told me. First, I have to get this car safely into the markets, then I'm going for a 4X4 tour of Namibia.

"I haven't figured out what I'll drive down there yet. The guys have offered me an X5, but Defenders seem to be what everybody drives, which will suit me, too. Back when BMW owned Land Rover, I was in charge of the body-in-white engineering for the Defender, so I know it well.

"I don't care what BMW want me to do next, but whatever it is will have to wait until I'm back from Africa, because I'm not changing that for anybody."

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