German car-maker's performance division says fast small coupe could follow GT four-door coupe
Mercedes-AMG boss Tobias Moers has announced that the German performance vehicle brand is considering launching another stand-alone AMG model that will follow in the tyre tracks of its existing AMG GT coupe and forthcoming GT 4-door Coupe.
Admitting to Brit mag Autocar that he’d already ruled out a bespoke SUV model from AMG, Moers said he wanted more unique AMG models in the line-up.
“There was a clear space in the market for a four-door GT,” he told the mag, adding, “but we already have many excellent AMG SUV derivatives and it makes no sense to steal from them just so we can make our own car.”
Instead, Autocar suggests Moers and his team at Affalterbach are considering a smaller, more affordable coupe and roadster rival for the Porsche Boxster and Cayman that will offer far more performance than the current 295kW Mercedes-AMG SLC 43.
Based on an all-new bespoke platform, it’s likely such a car will come equipped with both AMG’s advanced ’53’ 3.0-litre turbo in-line six-cylinder that relies on 48-volt mild hybrid tech and an electric compressor to produce a 320kW/520Nm.
More powerful versions of the Cayman rival might even get the firm’s 375kW 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, although this could see the lighter, baby AMG’s performance stray too far into the bigger GT Coupe’s territory.
It’s not known when Mercedes-AMG is planning to introduce its Cayman and Boxster rival.
Moers’ confidence in the AMG sub-brand comes from a period of rapid growth for Benz’s performance division that saw it sell almost 100,000 AMG-badged vehicles in 2016 and an incredible 133,000 units in 2017.
In 2017 Mercedes-Benz officially became the world’s biggest premium car-maker, selling an astonishing 2,289,344 vehicles globally — up almost 10 per cent over 2016.
Most of the growth was attributed to strong demand from China, Germany and North America.
In Australia, Mercedes shifted more than 37,000 cars and SUVs (plus more than 5000 vans and about 900 trucks) in 2017 — up from less than 36,000 in 2016.
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