According to Sacco himself, he was first inspired towards car design as an eighteen-year-old, after seeing a Raymond Loewy-styled 1950 Studebaker Commander Regal as he cycled through the streets of Tarvisio in 1951. Afterwards he could not get the car out of his head, and "knew life had been decided." After studying mechanical engineering at the Polytechnic University of Turin he attempted to seek work at the renowned Ghia and Pininfarinacarrozzerie, before moving to Germany when his efforts proved unsuccessful. Daimler-Benz hired him as a stylist in 1958, and although he intended to stay only briefly, his marriage to Berliner Annemarie lbe in 1959 and the birth of their daughter Marina the following year made him reassess his plans. Sacco rose through the corporate ranks at Daimler-Benz over the next fifteen years, becoming chief engineer in 1974, before taking over from Friedrich Geiger as head of the Daimler-Benz styling center at Sindelfingen in 1975. For the next quarter century until he retired in 1999 he was responsible for the design of every Mercedes road car, bus, and truck. Among his numerous works are the C111concept car, three successive iterations of the S-Classluxury car, the R129 SL convertible, the C-Class W202compact executive car, the W124 and W210 versions of the E-Class sedan, the CLK and SLKsports cars, the M-Class luxury sport utility vehicle, and second generationC-Class W203. Bruno made significant contribution to the design the W123, the best ever selling Mercedes, as well as his very last design R230 SL convertible. His favourite design, because of its significance to the company, is the Mercedes-Benz 190 introduced in 1982, while he confesses dissatisfaction with the 1991 S-Class, which he considers to be "four inches too tall". In his retirement he has given up his old red SLK convertible in favour of a black Mercedes-Benz 560SECcoupé.
Design themes
It took several years for Sacco to fully understand the culture at Daimler-Benz, since by his own attestation there were no "written laws". After following the philosophy of company co-founder Gottlieb Daimler, 'Nothing but the best', he began to better appreciate the direction he should follow. He has long advocated "horizontal homogeneity" and "vertical affinity", terms he uses to describe the continuity and of Mercedes designs. Horizontal homogeneity is the common styling cues between different models in the manufacturer's range; there should be a strong visual relationship between the smallest and largest cars. Vertical affinity is the requirement for cars not to be rendered stylistically obsolete by their successors, ensuring greater timelessness of design. 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.
