Press Release
Creation of the Stylistics department
It was not by chance that the then 24-year-old Bruno Sacco found his way to Stuttgart in 1958. The “Stylistics” department had been created only a few years beforehand. The initially quite small department was first headed by Friedrich Geiger. The department’s responsibilities were clearly defined: to oversee design processes of new Mercedes-Benz cars and formulate guidelines for their design. But since formal continuity is not something that can grow overnight, the designers continued at first to rely on their sense of style. Such form-defining experiments, however, did not find their way into production vehicles, only racing sports cars.
During the first year of his learning phase, Bruno Sacco saw how designers at Mercedes-Benz succumbed to the magical pull of a fashion trend. The Mercedes-Benz W 111 series sedans, introduced in 1959, sported tailfins, as had Ghia’s pioneering “Gilda” study at the Turin Motor Show of 1955. Virtually every North American brand adopted this design element for its future new models, before later abandoning it with equal alacrity. Later, in 1961, the learning process at Mercedes-Benz resulted in a coupe version of this series, which was not only one of the most beautiful Mercedes-Benz cars ever built, but for many experts one of the most attractive cars produced by any manufacturer. In particular, the design of the C pillars, rear screen and rear end would justify this view.
The tailfin models from the upper category were superseded in 1965 by the Mercedes-Benz 250 S, 250 SE, 300 SEb and long-wheelbase 300 SE models from the W 108 and W 109 series. These were very similar in terms of their technological design. These new models’ design did without any fads of fashion, stating its point through simple elegance. These highly successful models were built until 1972, after which time they were superseded by the W 116 S-Class.
Under the guidance of the ingenious Béla Barényi, the design of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars began to integrate safety features that secured for the brand a lasting competitive advantage. Together they produced numerous safety bodies for study purposes. The so-called safety occupant cell with front and rear crumple zones was incorpo-rated into series production of the “tailfin models” from the 111 series.
The Mercedes-Benz 230 SL of 1963, styled by Sacco, also followed Barényi’s recommendations, achieving immortality as the so-called Pagoda. The hardtop design that gave the car its familiar name made access to the sporty two-seater more comfortable and also provided structural rigidity for protection in the event of a rollover. Although it appears the design of his concave-convex roof was purely functional, it actually came about through aerodynamic research.
The milestones in Mercedes-Benz design between 1960 and 1970 were the C 111-I and C 111-II. These experimental vehicles never reached the production stage, but they remain impressive examples of the creative power of Mercedes-Benz design. They owed their existence to the complete freedom the designers were given to ignore all conventional forms. Some of the lines and design details eventually found their way much later into series models.
Mercedes-Benz’s experimental safety vehicles from the 1970s expressed what was on the mind of the automotive world during that period – for what people were calling for in the USA, Mercedes-Benz’s biggest market, was maximum passenger safety. A vehicle from this series, the ESF 22 from 1974, now has a place in the Mercedes-Benz Museum as an important historical document; this car was based on the S-Class of 1972.
Mercedes-Benz design in the hands of Bruno Sacco
In 1974 Bruno Sacco took over as Head of the Design Development department at Mercedes-Benz, where in addition to developing current projects he also put together long-term plans for the decades ahead. In 1978 his department caught the world unawares with a third C 111 project, a diesel record-breaking car that was aerodynamically inspired and featured sharp body lines. In no previous brand design project had technical innovation and design creativity been so powerfully combined. Numerous design elements later found their way into new pro-duction models of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Its precise edges and clean lines that ran parallel to the so-called flow line also heavily influenced the design of the future Mercedes-Benz 190.
The “small Mercedes” opened a new and successful chapter for the Mercedes-Benz brand in late 1982. Until then the brand had been responsible solely for cars in the upper segments; now it served up the so-called compact class as a completely new vehicle category positioned beneath the established Mercedes-Benz sedans. The new four-door was designed to appeal to customers able to afford a car bearing the three-pointed star for the first time. Its attractions were not status-oriented style elements from the luxury segment, but functional features. Discussion focused on its moderate wedge shape with clean edges, distinctive C pillars and high, rounded trunk lid – features that later found many imitators. Attention was even drawn to the small crease in the roof area, which fulfilled an aerodynamic function.
A second masterpiece to receive critical acclaim in the new era was the Mercedes-Benz SL of 1989 (R 129 series). Once again a new design, it embodied the dynamics of the roadster with perfect proportions and sporting details. The elongated, dipping engine hood, the A pillars as a stylistic continuation of the front wheel arches, the muscular short hardtop and the aerodynamic, gently flowing sidewalls collectively amounted to a controlled bundle of energy with looks that would keep youthful for years.
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class shaped the brand values of innovation, safety, comfort and status orientation like no other model series before it. The S-Class from the W 140 series of 1991 waved goodbye to traditional decorative elements, its clearly grouped, unfussy surfaces not only radiating contemporaneousness but also superiority and reliability. Diagonally split rear lights underlined its innovative character, as did the new design of radiator grille. For the first time this had been integrated into the engine hood and completely encased in metal. The three-pointed star was no longer attached to the chrome trim, but sat instead on the engine hood. The S-Class had been transformed from successful business sedan to powerfully elegant trendsetter destined for the luxury market.
Perfect integration into the product range
Having proved an immediate success, the Mercedes-Benz 190 was superseded in 1993 by the entirely new C-Class (W 202). It was to be the last model series to adhere closely to the Mercedes-Benz design philosophy that had been introduced in 1980 and – in comparison to other automotive brands – strictly adhered to. With its brand-specific, moderately updated front end, it was harmoniously integrated into the guidelines for vertical affinity in the contemporary product range.
Fully aware of the growing complexity of the Mercedes-Benz value world arising from the forthcoming product drive, Bruno Sacco relaxed the strict application of his design philosophy. Differentiation of the radiator grilles was an attempt to achieve a simpler structure. At the same time, new product-specific headlamp and wheel-arch packages were bundled together by the designers with a view to reinforcing the independence of the model series. The watershed was made public with the appearance of the E-Class from the W 210 series in 1995, when the so-called four-eyed face of the coupe study unveiled at the 1993 Geneva Motor Show entered large-scale production.
The study unveiled at Geneva in 1997 resulted in the Mercedes-Benz CLK coupe (C 208) and surprised few skeptics at the time, who feared a diminution in the exclusivity of the Mercedes-Benz brand. What convinced them of the car’s existential right was its strong individuality, its harmonious integration of pure driving pleasure and its elegant appearance, but also the easeful way the four-seater had been integrated into the Mercedes-Benz product family. Introduced the following year, the CLK convertible served to underline this goal further. Now the Mercedes-Benz CLK had established a separate series.
Design trends arise as a result of imagination and the courage to take risks. With the M-Class (W 163) launched in early 1997, Mercedes-Benz dared to combine the elegance of a station wagon with the austere sportiness of an offroad vehicle. They succeeded in disguising high ground clearance, wheels in flared wheel arches and a raised seating position for passengers using a design language that drew to a significant degree on Mercedes-Benz sedans. The new Mercedes-Benz ML became a prestigious Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV).
Bruno Sacco went on record as having demanded from the designers of the Mercedes-Benz SLK (R 170 series) – the car that in 1996 caused a sensation on the sports car market – just as much vertical affinity and horizontal homogeneity as necessary. The new roadster imitated the aesthetic qualities of its elder brother, the Mercedes-Benz SL, and with its power domes on the engine hood even made reference to the stylistic features of the legendary 300 SL of 1954. Its stretched form and short overhangs front and rear seemed to symbolize the car’s forward urgency. In terms of formal creativity, everyday practicality and functional reliability, the innovative folding roof set new standards in modern automotive design.
Bold innovation and brand-loyal design
Bruno Sacco’s theory that only the combination of bold innovation and brand-loyal design could lead to a trendsetting and durable product was confirmed – as with the Mercedes-Benz compact class – with the arrival of the A-Class (W 168) in 1996. The risks involved in designing this entirely innovative four-door vehicle with tailgate and positioned below the C-Class could only have been taken by a brand with the self-confidence of Mercedes-Benz. The new A-Class reflected innovative technology in avant-garde form. It was packed with detailed solutions that were pioneering – both stylistically and functionally.
The unusual ratio between vehicle length and height permitted unique flexibility in the interior. Design of the front and rear sections reinforced the car’s youthful aspect. The double underfloor was capable of accommodating a variety of different drive systems of the future. And above and beyond the many practical individual features of the new Mercedes-Benz A-Class, the car’s overall appearance exuded warmth and charm. In the closing years of the millennium the A-Class was a testament to the courage of those responsible for the brand to steer a wholly new course in terms of technology and design. It actively relayed the message to the public that Mercedes-Benz stood at the dawn of a new age.
The S-Class of 1998 (W 220) was to prove Bruno Sacco’s great valedictory. He made it the brand’s innovation-bearer – a silky, elegant, well-trained athlete. The traditional front section with integrated bumper turned the sedan into a sculpture. The windshield and rear screen were more slanting than had previously been the case and gave the sedan a lower, leaner appearance. The muscular image of the new S-Class added a new dimension to the internationally prized Mercedes charisma. Far from alienating through arrogance, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class exuded confidence and individuality. It achieved a new quality of distinguished automotive self-assurance.
In March 1999 Bruno Sacco took retirement. But the spirit of the first real design strategist of the Mercedes-Benz brand continued to inhabit the design department. Bruno Sacco’s successor on the tightrope between innovation and brand tradition is now Peter Pfeiffer. He carries forward the trendsetter role of Mercedes-Benz design in a period marked by an exploding diversity of innovations. Increasing individualization now calls for innovative automotive concepts in ever shorter cycles. In the last ten years alone Mercedes-Benz model diversity has almost tripled. The major new task facing Peter Pfeiffer, therefore, is not simply to create new trends that carry the Mercedes-Benz brand across short-term fashion currents. His goal is to forge ahead into new dimensions of mobility, as represented by the successful new spatial concepts in the shape of the Mercedes-Benz B- and R-Class. But the historic challenge goes further. It is about casting a single image of the Mercedes-Benz brand face capable of capturing its increasing complexity. “We are still a long way from reaching our limits,” said Peter Pfeiffer, awakening expectations that Mercedes-Benz design will continue to play its influential trendsetting role for the automotive industry as a whole.
