Mercedes cars’ new look will come slow and steady as BMW and Audi opt for revolution

The departure of Mercedes’ design director Gorden Wagener made waves earlier this year. So with his replacement, former head of AMG design Bastian Baudy, now officially in charge, there could be some big changes in store. We’ve yet to speak to Baudy himself, but veteran Mercedes designer Achim Badstübner has told us how he thinks Mercedes design could go in the future, and what effect new leadership could have.

The first thing to note is that Baudy is a long-standing Mercedes employee, and this is key to the change in design leadership. Unlike recent high-ranking moves at the top of other design teams – such as Audi’s employment of ex-Land Rover designer Massimo Frascella – Mercedes will retain a steady hand at the top through a long-standing part of the team. In fact, Baudy, like Gordon Wagner, Bruno Sacco and Frederich Geiger before him, were all originally design interns who climbed through the ranks before taking on the top job. 

Badstübner told us: “If you look at our history, [designers stick around] for decades at a time. Geiger was at the helm for 24 years, and Sacco came before him, again for 20 years. Gordon was 17 years. And they were all interns, no one was hired from outside. It’s part of our philosophy.”

This stability doesn’t necessarily mean there will be no change to Merc’s design language with Bastian at the helm, but a gentle transition is very much part of his mandate. “We are not searching for a new designer or design theme every year,” said Badstübner. “We want continuity. We have one front man and he’s representative of the whole team.” 

Mercedes, like many legacy brands, have been under some criticism for its most recent models, whether it be the design of its early EQ-branded electric cars, or the latest generation of its mixed-powertrain models, such as the latest CLA and GLB. 

When asked whether this will be taken into consideration alongside this change in leadership, Badstübner answered with some caution, telling us: “We’re not living in a vacuum; of course we see and look, and listen. But you should not listen too much. If you ask everybody, you get 20,000 answers and you lose the essence of what you’re trying to do. There’s a risk to it, but we’ve managed it well for the last 140 years.

“We always have the new model and the old model, and we compare these two. We consider whether it’s a large enough jump, whether we’ve gone far enough. But we never look over to what BMW or Lexus is doing. It’s not that important for us.” 

“We believe in ourselves, and have to make sure that our customers see how much of a jump we’ve wanted to make, and agree to that. But it’s not a common thing that we do a comparison with our rivals.”

Baudy’s pedigree within Mercedes is noted in this regard, too. Badstübner continued: “He’s Mercedes bred. He was in advanced [design] first, and then he joined my team in production cars. Then we sent him off to AMG for some independence and management skills, and now he’s coming back.” 

When we asked what sort of effect his time at AMG might have on the wider Mercedes range, though, we were told: “AMG is smaller and more agile, and I think that’s good for us. I get a sense already that they [worked] a little differently, and he wants to bring that to Mercedes. You know, Mercedes is a tanker and AMG is a speedboat. A little bit more speedboat will be good. But he’s aware that we’re a tanker, and what he can and can’t change organisationally.” 

So it sounds like a careful, steady, but not unsubstantial change will come to future Mercedes models. But until then, we still have at least a few more years of models designed under Gorden Wagener to come. With VW’s new era of design just around the corner, Audi’s revolution in design coming from 2027, and BMW’s Neue Klasse adoption now at full steam, some level of change within Mercedes might have been inevitable. But will it come fast enough?

Did you know you can sell your car through Auto Express? We’ll help you get a great price and find a great deal on a new car, too.