Amidst his busy schedule, Filipino designer Winifredo Camacho (Wini to his colleagues), the Senior Exterior Designer for Mercedes-Benz Production Cars, generously sets time aside to answer a few quick questions we had about the recently launched X-Class.

C! – What is its signature Mercedes Benz feature and how is it integrated into the design?

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WC – The most obvious feature would be the MB grill framing the winged MB star. The other feature is the clean body side surface combined with powerful wheel arches. It’s a clear interpretation of MB’s ‘Sensual Purity’ design philosophy.

C! – While pickups are not generally meant to have sweeping bodylines and such, how did you manage to make it as aerodynamically efficient as possible?

WC – Pickups are not the most aerodynamic vehicles for obvious reasons. At MB, we take aerodynamic optimization seriously whether we are dealing with a sports car or a truck. Most of these optimizations aren’t so obvious which include softening edges on the front (for smoother airflow to the rear) and adding a spoiler on the roof or rear hatch (to minimize air turbulence and drag at the rear). Adding a hard tonneau cover on the bed (as shown in the Stylish Explorer concept) also helps.

C! – What sort of design influences did you adopt in the pickup’s overall body shape design?

WC – The 2 showcars were designed, literally, to showcase the 2 extreme personalities of the X-Class – luxury and toughness. Moreover, as I mentioned before, the showcars were designed with the ‘Sensual Purity’ philosophy in mind. This means applying clean and sculptural surfaces to the body shape.

C! – Could the overall design or body style of the pickup still be improved upon?

WC – Pickups are basically utilitarian vehicles whose unique architecture makes it a challenge for the designers to work on. There are limitations to what a designer can do to its shape especially in the body side, bed and rear area. The functional aspect is very important to the people who buy this sort of vehicle so there’s not much you can do about the boxy shape of the rear portion of the vehicle. One of the main areas that allow a fair amount of design possibilities to differentiate it from competitors is the front. Another main area that the designer can have a big impact is the interior.

C! – In what way were you able to seamlessly integrate luxury and practicality in an otherwise utilitarian type of vehicle?

Subtle things like choice of high quality materials, excellent fit and finish of parts and body panels, quality and regularity of shutlines, ‘clean’ reflections of body surface and state of the art high-tech equipment are some of the aspects that contribute to the perceived MB premium quality and luxury. The exterior and interior of the X-Class has the same high level of quality and equipment as any MB car. The X-Class is practicality infused with the world-renowned MB luxury.

Our most heartfelt congratulations to Mr Winifredo Camacho!

additional information:

Nationality: Filipino 

Languages: English, Tagalog, German (Basic)

Education + Experience:
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Industrial Design (cum laude), University Of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines – 1982 -86
Furniture/interior Designer, MoebelSystema, Makati City, Philippines -1986
Jr. Industrial Designer, Tritech Design Studio, Makati City, Philippines – 1986-87
Industrial/graphic Designer, Hugis Industrial Design, Makati City, Philippines – 1987-89
Product/graphic Designer, Nikim Industries Ltd., Causeway Bay, Hong Kong – 1989-91
Product/graphic Designer, New Bright Industries (Toy Manufacturer), Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong – 1991-95
BS Transportation Design, ArtCenterCollege of Design (Europe), Vevey, Switzerland – 1995-96
BS Transportation Design (with Honors), ArtCenterCollege of Design, PasadenaCA, USA – 1996-98
Transportation Designer – Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design North America, IrvineCA, USA – 1998
Sr. Transportation Designer (Exterior) – Mercedes-Benz Design, Sindelfingen, Germany, 1998 – 2011
Design Manager – Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Center of China, Beijing, China, 2011 – 2014
Senior Exterior Designer – Mercedes-Benz Production Cars, Sindelfingen, Germany, 2014 – Present

Overseas Postings:
Project Designer, Stola SPA (Mercedes-Benz subcontractor), Turin, Italy – 2005
Exchange Designer, Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Japan, Yokohama, Japan – 2008
Exchange Designer, Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design North America, Carlsbad CA, USA – 2009
Design Manager/lead Designer, Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Japan, Yokohama, Japan – Feb.-April 2014
Design Manager – Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Center of China, Beijing, China, 2011 – 2014

Major Works:
MB A-Class F-Cell Exterior Facelift – 2001
MB C-Class (W203) Exterior Facelift – 2003
MB E-Class (W212) Exterior Design – 2006
MB Concept A-Class Exterior Design – Auto Shanghai 2011
MB Concept Style Coupe Exterior Design – Auto China 2012
BDNT Denza EV Concept Car Exterior and Interior Design –Auto China 2012
MB Concept G-Code Exterior Design – 2014