Bruno Sacco | |
|---|---|
 Sacco in 2007 | |
| Born | (1933-11-12)12 November 1933 |
| Died | 19 September 2024(2024-09-19) (aged 90) Sindelfingen,Baden-Württemberg, Germany |
| Citizenship | Italian, German |
| Education | Polytechnic University of Turin |
| Spouse | Annemarie Sacco |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | Automotive design |
| Significant design | Mercedes-Benz W201 Mercedes-Benz W126 Mercedes-Benz SEC Mercedes-Benz W124 Mercedes-Benz W210 Mercedes-Benz W140 Mercedes-Benz C111 Mercedes-Benz W123 Mercedes-Benz SL-Class (R129) Mercedes-Benz S-Class (W220) Mercedes-Benz SL-Class (R230) |
Bruno Sacco (12 November 1933 – 19 September 2024) was an Italianautomobile designer and chief engineer, who served as the head of styling at theDaimler-Benz AG, the German manufacturer ofMercedes-Benz automobiles and trucks, from 1975 to 1999. Since Bruno Sacco was hired as a Mercedes-Benz stylist in 1958, his career and contributions to their vehicles'industrial design spanned more than four decades.
According to Sacco himself, he was first inspired towards car design as an eighteen-year-old, after seeing aRaymond Loewy-styled 1950Studebaker Commander Regal as he cycled through the streets ofTarvisio in 1951.[1] Afterwards, he could not get the car out of his head, and "knew [his] life had been decided."[2]
After studyingmechanical engineering at thePolytechnic University of Turin, he first sought work at the renownedGhia andPininfarinacarrozzerie (coachbuilders), but moved to Germany when his efforts proved unsuccessful.[1] Daimler-Benz hired him as a stylist in 1958,[3] and although he intended to stay only briefly, his marriage toBerlinerin Annemarie Ibe in 1959, and the birth of their daughter Marina the following year, made him reconsider his future.[1]
Sacco rose through the corporate ranks at Daimler-Benz over the next fifteen years, becoming chief engineer in 1974, before taking over fromFriedrich Geiger as head of the Daimler-Benz styling center atSindelfingen in 1975.[1][4] For the next quarter century, until he retired in 1999, he was responsible for the design of every Mercedes road car,bus, andtruck.[5] Among his numerous works are theC111 concept car, three successive generations ofthe S‑Class luxury saloons, (theW126,W140, andW220), theR129 SL convertible, theC-Class W202 compact executive car, theW124 andW210 versions of theE-Class sedan, theCLK andSLK sports cars, theM-Class luxury sport utility vehicle, and second generationC‑Class W203.[1] Sacco made significant contributions to the design of theMercedes W123, the best selling Mercedes-Benz ever,[6] as well as his very last design, theR230 SL convertible (in 1997).
Sacco's favourite design, because of its significance to the company's history, is theMercedes-Benz 190 introduced in 1982, while he confessed dissatisfaction with the1991 W140 S-Class, of which he considered the'greenhouse' (upper body) to be "four inches [10 cm] too tall".[7] In his retirement he had given up his old redSLK convertible in favour of a dark blueMercedes-Benz 560SEC (C126).[5][7]
In addition to the 1989 C126 560SEC, he owned a 2019C238 E-Class Coupé, also in dark blue.[8][9]
Sacco died on 19 September 2024, at the age of 90, inSindelfingen, a suburb ofStuttgart, where he had lived.[10]
A Mercedes-Benz must always look like a Mercedes-Benz.
— Bruno Sacco.[2]
It took several years for Sacco to fully understand the culture at Daimler-Benz, since by his own attestation, there were no "written [styling or design] laws".
He has long advocated "horizontal homogeneity" and "vertical affinity", terms he used to describe the continuity andhomogeneity of Mercedes designs.[3][5] Horizontal homogeneity is the common styling cue between different models in the manufacturer's range; there should be a strong visual relationship between the smallest and largest cars.[3][11] Vertical affinity is the requirement for cars not to be rendered stylisticallyobsolete by their successors, ensuring greater timelessness of design.[3][11] Sacco felt this was of special importance to Mercedes, whose cars' reputation for longevity meant that their typical life cycle was 20 to 30 years.[1][2][4]
Sacco accumulated numerous awards and honours during his career; his overall body of work has been acknowledged byCar Magazine's "Designer's Designer" (1996) as chosen by forty of his peers,[5] theEyesOn Design Lifetime Design Achievement Award (1997),[12] and the Raymond Loewy Foundation's Lucky Strike Designer Award (1997).[13] He was shortlisted as one of the 25Car Designers of the Century in 1999, and was inducted into theAutomotive Hall of Fame in 2006 and the European Automotive Hall of Fame in 2007.[4][11]
In his homeland, he was awarded theGrand Official Order of Merit of the Republic in 1991,[5] and received an honorarydoctorate from theUniversity of Udine in 2002.[5]
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