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Peter Pfeiffer - From stylistics to design

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Created on January 26, 2024

Text:

Karl Ludvigsen (Übersetzung: Paul Krüger)

Photos:

Daimler AG

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DaimlerChrysler AG

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Wolfram Hamann

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Oldtimer Galerie Toffen

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Archiv

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Daimler AG

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DaimlerChrysler AG

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Wolfram Hamann

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Oldtimer Galerie Toffen

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Archiv

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Peter Pfeiffer, Mercedes-Benz Chief Designer from 1999 to 2008

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Peter Pfeiffer, Mercedes-Benz Chief Designer from 1999 to 2008

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Peter Pfeiffer (left) and Josef Gallitzendörfer with a model of the Mercedes-Benz C 140

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Peter Pfeiffer (right) analyzes a design for the SL R 230 series

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Peter Pfeiffer explains the new radiator grille of the C-Class Avantgarde

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Peter Pfeiffer, Mercedes-Benz Chief Designer from 1999 to 2008

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Peter Pfeiffer (left) and Karl-Heinz Bauer with a model of the W 204 series

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Peter Pfeiffer with a three-dimensional projection of the new SL design

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Mercedes-Benz SL 500 (2001) - Design with 3D support

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Mercedes-Benz SL 500 (2001) - design sketch, already close to the final design

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Mercedes-Benz SL 500 (2001) - Design sketch

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Mercedes-Benz SL 500 (2001) - sketch not quite suitable for series production

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Mercedes-Benz SL 500 (2001) - Design sketches and drafts

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Mercedes-Benz SL 500 (2001) - design draft for the interior

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Mercedes-Benz SL 500 (2001) - work on the clay model

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Mercedes-Benz SL 500 (2001) - R 230 model series, photographed in the USA

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Mercedes-Benz SL 500 (2001) - with open and closed vario-roof

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Ford Taunus 17M (1961) - postcard subject

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Mercedes-Benz CLS 500 (2005) - with full equipment and only 33'000 km offered for 24'500 € - Classic Car Show Maastricht 2024

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Mercedes-Benz Vito 111 CDI (2007) - registered as lot 109 for the Oldtimer Galerie Toffen auction on March 27, 2021

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Summary

After Friedrich Geiger and Bruno Sacco, Peter Pfeiffer was the third Head of Styling at Mercedes-Benz from 1999. He led the brand into the next millennium and adapted the style of the cars accordingly: away from pure practicality and towards more creative freedom. Karl Ludvigsen spoke to him about the development of the design process at Mercedes-Benz and the different ways of working at Daimler-Chrysler.

This article contains the following chapters

From model maker to head designer
German-American working alliance
A Mercedes can also look good
Searching for shapes worldwide

Estimated reading time: 11min

Preview (beginning of the article)

"When a customer stands in front of a Mercedes-Benz, they should think: I want this car." This was the philosophy of Peter Pfeiffer, who was responsible for the appearance of Daimler-Benz products from 1999 to 2008. In this role, he succeeded Bruno Sacco, who had held the same position since 1977. Remarkably, Pfeiffer's career at the head of the Mercedes-Benz styling department closely coincided with the existence of the merged Daimler-Chrysler company from its foundation in 1998 until its dissolution in 2007. Born in August 1943 in Dallwitz in the Sudetenland, Pfeiffer grew up in Franconia and lived his life according to the Prussian motto: "Be more than you appear to be". Expelled from the Sudetenland at the end of the Second World War, his family settled in Schönbrunn near Staffelstein in Franconia. After finishing secondary school, Pfeiffer followed his father's profession and trained as a porcelain modeler at the Alboth & Kaiser company in Staffelstein. He then attended the technical college for porcelain design in Selb, also in Franconia.

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