Bruno Sacco was born in Udine, Italy, on November 12, 1933. After training in Tarvisio and Udine, he enrolled at the polytechnic high school in Turin, where a study period at Ghia provided him with early experience in the field of body design. He later took on a number of smaller orders for both Ghia and Pininfarina. Bruno Sacco’s career at Daimler-Benz began in 1958. As stylist and designer he was involved in various projects under the supervision of Karl Wilfert, Friedrich Geiger and Béla Barényi, including the Mercedes-Benz 600 and the 230 SL roadster. In addition, he was made project leader for the design of the safety exhibitions of the day as well as the so-called “test labs on wheels”, the C 111-I and C 111-II experimental vehicles. In 1970 Sacco became Head of the Body Design and Dimensional Drawing department at Daimler-Benz. Under his aegis this period saw the development of the ESF (Experimental Safety Vehicle) prototypes and the 123 series.

In 1975 and now bearing the title Senior Engineer, Bruno Sacco took over as successor to Friedrich Geiger as Head of the Styling Department and from then on played a vital part in shaping the overall appearance of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars. The key stages of this gradual formal evolution were the record-breaking C 111-III diesel (1978) and the W 126-series S-Class (1979). In 1978 Sacco was appointed Head of the Styling Department. In 1987 the Board of Management appointed him Director of the Design Department, and in 1993 in his function as Head of Design he became a member of the company’s Board of Directors. In this capacity Bruno Sacco also assumed a mandated role for the design of products for the Commercial Vehicle Division. In March 1999, after 41 years service with Mercedes-Benz design, Bruno Sacco handed over leadership of the department to Peter Pfeiffer.

During the years he worked at Daimler-Benz Bruno Sacco received numerous personal awards:

• 1981: Honorary member of the Academia Mexicana de Diseño

1991: Received the title Grande Ufficiale dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana

1993: Winner of the Cover Award – Auto & Design, Turin

1993: Awarded the Premio Mexico 1994 – Patronato Nacional de las Asociaciones de Diseño AC, Mexico

1994: Winner of the Apulia Award for Professional Achievement

1996: Voted Best Designer by Car magazine

1996: Voted Designers’ Designer by Car magazine

1997: Winner of the Lifetime Design Achievement Award, Detroit

1997: Presented with the Raymond Loewy Designer Award by the Lucky Strike brand

2002: Honorary doctorate from the Udine University, Italy.

2006: Inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame, Dearborn

2007: Inducted into the European Automotive Hall of Fame, Geneva