LOS ANGELES - Adrian van Hooydonk, the 39-year-old Dutch native who has emerged as the real designer of BMW's much-criticized 7 series, makes no excuses for the break-the-mold look of the automaker's flagship sedan.

The 7-series redesign three years ago touched off a firestorm of criticism, and Chris Bangle, BMW's longtime senior designer, had been taking the heat for it. Billed by Bangle as the beginning of a necessary overhaul of BMW styling, the 7 series features a straight beltline that wraps around onto the trunk, creating a wedgelike protrusion.

But BMW has begun pointing out that van Hooydonk, president of BMW's DesignworksUSA studio in Newbury Park, Calif., drew the sedan's exterior. And he insists it was right for BMW to try a new design direction.

Van Hooydonk concedes that BMW may be ahead of its time with the design strategy, which has continued with the new 5-series sedan and 6-series coupe and convertible, but says the styling reflects BMW's position as a luxury brand that uses cutting-edge technology.

"It wouldn't make sense to package that in a retro design or a design that nobody takes offense (to)," he said in an interview here. "We have to chart our own course, and it can only be a modern course."

Van Hooydonk, a tall, lean man who sports a fashionable two-day stubble, also drew the 6 series. He'll leave within months for Munich, Germany, to take over the BMW-brand design studio.

Bangle has been named director of BMW Group Design, a new post.

The controversy arises from BMW's desire to give every vehicle line a distinct look. In the past, BMW had look-alike cars in three sizes - what CEO Helmut Panke has called three sizes of the same sausage.

The criticism won't make BWM turn to consumer clinics to endorse styling decisions, van Hooydonk says. Competitors' cars that go through such clinics rarely are embraced for their unique designs, he says.

"There are some car companies that say they want emotion," he says. "What they really mean is that they want only positive (criticism). They will go out of their way to make people say that."

Retro styling in particular is inappropriate because BMW has only been competing in the luxury car segment for 20 years, van Hooydonk says.

"BMW has taken risks, and our customers have taken risks in their lives to get to the position where they can afford to buy these cars," he says. "Being risk-oriented, you have a better chance of making bigger strides than if you are conservative."

Whether BMW's new design philosophy endures is a question that even van Hooydonk can't answer.

"That's hard to predict," he admits. "I can't tell you, and nobody can. Time will tell."

He admires good design at other car companies and cites Nissan, Renault and especially Cadillac, whose new styling also is controversial. Cadillac is at least "being recognizable again," van Hooydonk says.

But one thing van Hooydonk is sure about is that it's not only car companies that want designs that reflect their brand identity.

The trend toward recognizable and brand-identifying design is increasingly spreading to makers of everything from consumer electronics to faucets, he says.

What does van Hooydonk know about the design philosophy behind products such as a Motorola cell phone, Villeroy & Boch faucet or John Deere tractor?

DesignworksUSA styled each one.

BMW bought DesignworksUSA in 1995 to have an automotive styling studio in North America, but it allowed the company to keep its industrial clients, which include Boeing Corp., Siemens, Intel, Star Trac and Nokia. About half of the company's business today is industrial.