Claus Luthe died on 17 March at age 75. As chief designer at BMW from 1976-1990, he supervised the design team that developed the lineup of 3 Series, 5 Series and 7 Series into the epitome of the luxury sports sedan of the 1980s, turning BMW into one of the most desirable (and profitable) brands in the world. He was also the designer of the revolutionary NSU Ro80.
Luthe was undoubtedly one of the leaders of post-war German car design and his creations had a massive impact on the perception of the modern German car, with its feeling of visual solidity and self-assurance that remains to this day.
When launched in 1967, the Ro80 had a breathtaking elegance and modernity to it that was simply unrivalled. Features such as the wedge-profile, airy glasshouse and slim pillars, styled headlamps and drag coefficient of 0.35 were way ahead of their time. The basic aerodynamic shape was ‘rediscovered' in the early 1980's and led to cars such as the Audi 100, Mercedes 190 and Ford Sierra. The tragedy for Luthe was that the excellence of the styling was always overshadowed by the dreadful reputation of the rotary engine.
Claus Luthe first worked as a coachbuilding student at Karosseriebauer Voll in Würzburg, where he worked on proposals for buses. He moved to NSU in 1956, where he was part of a small team that styled the rear-engined Prinz that went on sale in 1958 and was developed during the 1960's into a range of models including the TT and Wankel Spider. The design of the 1961 Prinz 4 was influenced by the rear-engined Chevrolet Corvair, particularly the ogee-curved body side section that was a favorite of Claus Luthe, and used by him on the Ro80 and later on successive BMWs, particularly the E28 5-Series. Following the takeover of NSU by Volkswagen in 1969, Luthe continued to work for Volkswagen/Audi and his NSU K70 came to the market as the VW K70 after considerable delays with modifications to his original design. From 1971 to 1976 Luthe was involved in, among other projects, the original Polo/Audi 50, the Audi 100 C2 and the initial proposals for the Audi 80 B2, although the design was modified substantially after he left Audi.
The major catastrophe in Luthe's life came in 1990 at the height of his career, when he fatally stabbed his only son Ulrich during a violent row over Ulrich's drug addiction. For this tragic event he was jailed but only served a short term before being released. Despite being offered his job back by BMW - an indication of the high esteem in which he was held by the company - Luthe instead decided to take early retirement. However, he continued as a consultant to BMW throughout the 1990s.
