Brunco Sacco, led Mercedes design for almost two decades, dead at 90

• Former Mercedes designer Bruno Sacco died at the age of 90
• Sacco was responsible for the W126 S-Class and R129 SL-Class
• Sacco was inducted into both the Automotive Hall of Fame and European Automotive Hall of Fame

Mercedes-Benz has confirmed that Bruno Sacco died at the age of 90 in Sindelfingen, Germany on Sept. 19. Sacco was one of the best-known automotive designers in Mercedes history and lead a team that penned some of Mercedes-Benz’s most memorable vehicles.

Sacco was the Chief Designer at Mercedes-Benz from 1975 until his retirement in 1999.

“Bruno Sacco has defined the shape of numerous icons from Mercedes-Benz. Many of them are still seen today in everyday road traffic, or they fascinate as classics of the brand,” said Marcus Breitschwerdt, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Heritage GmbH.

Models ranging from the W126 S-Class from the 1980s, including the sedans and coupes, and W124 E-Class models to the W201 series of Mercedes affectionately known as the 190s were the work of Sacco. Sacco was also the man responsible for bringing Mercedes into the modern age of the 1990s with the SL-Class known to enthusiasts as the R129.

Sacco said his guiding theme was, “a Mercedes-Benz must always look like a Mercedes-Benz.”

Before joining Mercedes-Benz in 1958, Sacco worked at Carrozzeria Ghia SpA, affectionally known by many simply as Ghia, in Turin.

Sacco was hired by Mercedes-Benz head of body testing Karl Wilfert who was building a new style department. Sacco was the second dedicated designer hired for the new department. Sacco reported to department head Friedrich Geiger, who he superseded in 1975.

The first vehicle Sacco was responsible for was the W123 series station wagon presented in 1977. The model marked Mercedes-Benz’s first station wagon.

Sacco claimed a model series’s identity must be retained from one model generation to the next in order to prevent a generation from appearing old after the introduction of the following generation. That principle kicked off the automaker’s evolutionary design phase.

In 2006 Sacco was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn Michigan, and in 2007 the European Automotive Hall of Fame in Geneva.