Gorden Wagener succeeds Prof. Peter Pfeiffer

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Who's Where: Gorden Wagener succeeds Prof. Peter Pfeiffer as Mercedes-Benz Head of Design

by Eric Gallina

Left to right: Prof. Peter Pfeiffer and Gorden Wagener. Click for larger images

Gorden Wagener to head Mercedes-Benz Design

Prof. Peter Pfeiffer will retire in summer 2008

Gorden Wagener has been appointed Head of Design at Mercedes-Benz, effective from mid-2008. Wagoner will become the successor to Professor Peter Pfeiffer, who will be retiring after forty years of service at the company.

In a conversation with Car Design News yesterday, Wagener explained how he would be taking over the position progressively over the next few months, until he returns to Germany this summer from Los Angeles - where he is currently based. For now, Wagoner will continue to direct the Advanced Design department and act as director of the Mercedes design studios in California and Japan, a position he has been in since 2006.

Beginning his career as Exterior Designer in 1995, Wagoner joined Mercedes-Benz in Sindelfingen two years later. In 1999, he became head of the Exterior/Interior Styling department, designing such models as the GL, M and R-Class with his team. In 2002, Wagener was responsible for the design of the models making up the A, B, C, E, CLK and CLS-Class. He was appointed as head of Strategic Advanced Design in 2007, where he developed future vehicle concepts and worked towards the realization of new design strategies.

Pfeiffer has been Head of Mercedes-Benz's design division since April 1999, where he was responsible for designing passenger cars and commercial vehicles for the Stuttgart-based automotive brand. Prof. Pfeiffer is responsible for the design of the Mercedes models currently on the market, including the Maybach luxury limousine and the Smart ForTwo.

Having studied at the Technical College for the Porcelain Industry in Selb from 1960 until 1963 Pfeiffer began his design career at Ford-Werke AG in 1963. Five years later, he entered the Daimler-Benz group, becoming head of the Passenger Car and Commercial Vehicle Design department in 1978. In 1999, Pfeiffer succeeded Bruno Sacco at the helm of the design division of Mercedes-Benz and was appointed Senior Vice President Design in 2000. In the summer of 2003, Pfeiffer received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his contribution to the field of automotive design and, in the fall of 2004, he was awarded an honorary professorship by the University of Arts and Design in Budapest. In late 2007, the German Design Council elected Pfeiffer as its new president.

"Good design is not only about creating beautiful and fascinating individual products. It is also about more exactly defining the automobiles' nature", says Pfeiffer. "What has always been decisive for the design of Mercedes cars, and this will certainly not change, is that we don't want to follow fashion, we want to be modern".