Former Mercedes-Benz Chief Designer Bruno Sacco passes at 90

The designer of Mercedes-Benz icons including the R129 SL and the W140 S-Class, Bruno Sacco, has passed away at the age of 90.

Born in Italy with German citizenship, Sacco was Chief Designer of Mercedes-Benz from 1975 until retirement in 1999. Some notable models that were created while he was head of Mercedes' design department include all four body variants of the E-Class, the W201 Mercedes-Benz 190, as well as the W126 S-Class.

Born in Udine in 1933, Sacco graduated from his hometown as the youngest geometer in Italy in 1951. In that same year, he visited the Turin Motor Show, which left him so fascinated, Mercedes-Benz states, that he opted to visit the Polytechnic University of Turin from 1952 and joined the Carrozzeria Ghia SpA in Turin in 1955 to gain experience in model production.

He then met Karl Wilfert, the head of Mercedes-Benz body testing at the Sindelfingen plant in 1957 and was hired as the second stylist of Mercedes' then new stylistics department in 1958.

Sacco is said to have exhibited an ability to harmoniously combine aesthetics and technology, a feat that made him one of the most influential designers in automotive history. Peter Pfeiffer succeeded him as Chief Designer of Mercedes-Benz after his retirement in 1999.