Claus Luthe

Luthe originally wanted to follow his elder brother into a career in architecture, but took an apprenticeship from 1948 to 1954 as a coachbuilding student at Karosseriebauer Voll in Würzburg, where he worked on proposals for buses.

Chief engineer Ewald Praxl was given the assignment to develop the car, originally envisaged at 800 kg and 80 hp, starting from a clean sheet.

Luthe created a clean wedge shape with a large glasshouse, while the engineering team added innovations such as four-wheel independent suspension, semi-automatic transmission and inboard disc brakes to reduce unsprung mass.

It had an initial drag coefficient of only 0.35, remarkably low for its time, even though it was not tested in a wind tunnel until the design was largely finalized.

[7]In late 1967, when the remarkable new Ro 80 was introduced at the Frankfurt Motor Show, it did not initially gain universal acceptance for its unconventional wedge-like design.

[9] Luthe solved the cost restraint problem by reusing the passenger compartment structure of the E12, but with new front and rear clips and a new interior.

Significant technical developments, such as new front and rear axles as well as climate control, were also added, and eventually the project cost for the new model, the E28 reached USD 400 million.

After the launch of the E30, BMW chairman Herbert Quandt set a challenge for the design team to better the Mercedes-Benz W126, the benchmark in European luxury vehicles at the time.

A sleek, streamlined, wedge-shaped body, in some ways reminiscent of the trend-setting Ro 80, and unconventional L-shaped taillights, the new E32 was very much the antithesis of the W126.

He left his post at BMW after being accused of fatally stabbing his 33-year-old, chronically drug-dependent oldest son, Ulrich after an argument on Good Friday in 1990.