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.
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