Mercedes Designer Goes `Off the Charts' to Draw Younger Buyers
Daimler AG's Mercedes Benz Head of Design Gorden Wagener
Daimler AG via Bloomberg
Daimler AG's Mercedes Benz Head of Design Gorden Wagener.
Daimler AG's Mercedes Benz Head of Design Gorden Wagener. Source: Daimler AG via Bloomberg
Mercedes Risks High-Rev C-Class Design, Tackle BMW 3-Series
Daimler AG via Bloomberg
The Daimler AG unit unveiled the updated C-Class, which starts at $34,865, this week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
The Daimler AG unit unveiled the updated C-Class, which starts at $34,865, this week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Source: Daimler AG via Bloomberg
Mercedes Risks High-Rev C-Class Design, Tackle BMW 3-Series
Daimler AG via Bloomberg
Wagener’s SLS, the reinterpretation of the 50s era 300 SL gull-wing sportscar, put Mercedes back on the map in design terms, said Peter Zec, founder of the Red Dot industrial design award.
Wagener’s SLS, the reinterpretation of the 50s era 300 SL gull-wing sportscar, put Mercedes back on the map in design terms, said Peter Zec, founder of the Red Dot industrial design award. Source: Daimler AG via Bloomberg
Gorden Wagener, a former competitive wakeboarder and hobby oil painter who’s led Mercedes-Benz design for two years, likes to drive in low gears to feel the rumble of the engine, regardless of the noise.
His uncompromising approach, evident in the $185,750 SLS gull-wing supercar and the $74,875 CLS luxury coupe, is being tested now that he’s brought his styling to the brand’s bread- and-butter model. The Daimler AG unit unveiled the updated C- Class, which starts at $34,865, this week in Detroit.
With a jutting-out grill and stylized interior, inspired by the new CLS, Mercedes is betting the C-Class will attract younger drivers. Mercedes’ average U.S. buyer is 54, four years older than at Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, its larger rival, and six years older than at Volkswagen AG’s Audi, according to Market research firm Strategic Vision.
“They needed to shake off the conservativism to get the street presence that gets noticed,” said Cameron McNaughton, a consultant at Rojek Consulting Group in Hillsborough, North Carolina, who’s advised Audi. “The next generation of potential car buyers is less interested in cars, so there is a need to engage them in the brand that’s different and design is a critical factor.”
The refreshed C-Class, which competes with BMW’s 3-Series and Audi’s A4, is “the most extensive facelift” in the German carmaker’s 125-year history, with more than 2,000 new parts and features such as three-dimensional maps, cleaner engines and a system to detect driver fatigue, Mercedes sales chief Joachim Schmidt said.
Sales Boost
The facelift will probably help the C-Class gain an edge over the 3-Series and A4. IHS forecasts sales of 320,000 C-Class sedans and wagons this year, 20,000 more than both the BMW and Audi models. BMW may regain the lead when a new version of the 3-Series hits the market in 2012, IHS estimates.
Enhancing Mercedes’ appeal with younger consumers is critical to building demand for four new small cars, which will start rolling out later this year with a revamped B-Class. The models are necessary to keep pace with BMW and fend off Audi, which aims to become the luxury-car leader by 2015.
Wagener, a 42-year-old ruggedly built native of Essen, Germany, who splits his time between Daimler’s Stuttgart headquarters and his California home, has a competitive streak that propelled him to second place in the German wakeboarding championship in 2000. His sights are much higher at Mercedes, where he aims to rival not just contemporary models, but the hottest cars ever made.
‘Off the Charts’
“The goal is to create the most beautiful cars in history,” said Wagener, whose current vehicle is a matte-red CLS with white leather interior. “At the very least, we want to create the benchmark car in each and every segment.”
Mercedes’ new design may backfire, as the “very avant- garde” makeover risks alienating traditional buyers, said Jeremy Anwyl, head of automotive website Edmunds.com.
“Mercedes is in a position where they can almost dictate taste, but some people aren’t quite going to understand it,” said Anwyl, who’s based in Santa Monica, California. “The obvious goal is to reach out to younger, trend-setting buyers, and Mercedes is clearly looking for relevance in that segment, which is causing them to go off the charts on styling.”
Repair ‘Nightmare’
Horst Bunzel, a retired electrical engineer from Berlin who has a 2008 E-Class and has been a Mercedes owner for decades, is one such customer who feels put off by the new styling.
“I like smooth surfaces,” said Bunzel, who isn’t a fan of the evocative lines that accent new Mercedes models. “Those edges are a nightmare to repair if you get in an accident.”
The styling overhaul, which includes broader shoulders over the rear wheels and interiors developed by a new 90-person team, in some ways parallels BMW’s break under former design chief Chris Bangle. The shakeup of BMW’s rigid styling, while shocking some, made the models more distinct, facilitating expansion. Last year, the Munich-based carmaker defended the lead it’s held over Mercedes since 2005, when Bangle was design chief.
“If Mercedes didn’t undertake this design change, they would have lost out significantly to BMW and Audi,” said Peter Zec, founder of the annual Red Dot industrial design award. “Mercedes is prepared now to be noticed and appeal to drivers that differ from the stodgy businessman stereotype.”
Wagener was the youngest head designer in the automaker’s history when he took charge at 39 in 2008. He started sketching cars as a kid inspired by his father’s dark blue Mercedes 230E.
‘Little Boy’s Dream’
“I’m living every little boy’s dream,” Wagener said in an interview at his office in Stuttgart late last year. “I get to build my own toys.”
Wagener as a student dabbled in painting oil and watercolor renditions of his designs. He’s continued the pastime and his canvases adorn the offices of Chief Executive Officer Dieter Zetsche and other Mercedes executives.
“For him, the painting was like background music, but it was an important link to the artistic aspect of industrial design, which can be very technical and structured,” Stefan Lengyel, a Budapest-born designer who taught Wagener at the University of Essen, said. “I hope he keeps painting. It’s important not to lose touch with the artistry.”
The C-Class, Mercedes’s best-selling model, which accounted for 27 percent of 2010 sales, will test whether Wagener’s expressive styling resonates with core customers.
“The new C-Class is a little more curvy in the front and more detailed in the rear, but that’s just tinsel,” said Christoph Stuermer, an analyst with IHS Automotive in Frankfurt. “The big improvements are in the interior, but they run the risk of creating too much dashboard with the prominent built-in monitor.”
Regardless of the results, Wagener promises the design shift will continue, especially as Mercedes expands its lineup to add a C-Class coupe and new compact vehicles.
“We have to make the brand more youthful,” he said. “Even if we have older customers, they also want to feel young.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Reiter in Detroit via creiter2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net.
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