Mercedes To Bring In Lower Priced AMG Range To Lug The Price Gap

Mercedes to bring in lower priced AMG range to lug the price gap. Daimler performance subbrand Mercedes-AMG aims to double sales in the next three years by offering a cheaper product line to narrow the price gap with Mercedes-Benz cars. The first two models from the new AMG Sport family will premiere at the Detroit auto show in January 2015 with further models to follow, the company said at a press event here, near Stuttgart. Audi has already implemented a similar strategy with some success, offering the S-line that is situated price-wise between Audi’s base cars and the RS models built by its in-house tuner, Quattro GmbH. “The A 250 Sport was the predecessor of the AMG Sport product line, we saw that it was successful and decided to expand this into a strategic business model,” said Tobias Moers, head of Mercedes-AMG. He added the new line could represent 30 percent to 40 percent of AMG sales in the future.

“Real sports car technology will become more accessible and appeal to an even broader customer group,” Moers said, adding that the subbrand will not water down its promise of top performance. “In the next three years we want to more than double vehicle sales over 2013,” Moers said, referring to the 32,200 sold last year. To further boost volumes, Mercedes will used the AMG Sport range to close the gap between Mercedes cars equipped with the AMG Sport Package trim level and the classic AMG models. Right now, customers who want a more sporty C class than the Mercedes-Benz C400 4MATIC have to pay 76,100 euros in Germany to get the Mercedes-AMG C 63, which is roughly 24,000 euros more. In between those two will be the new Mercedes-Benz C 450 AMG that will debut in Detroit. It will be offered at a starting price of about 50,000 euros. AMG will also premiere the Mercedes-Benz GLE 450 Coupe at the Detroit show. The AMG Sport cars will offer six-cylinder engines with increased output, all-wheel drive as standard plus special chassis and brake parts from the traditional AMG models. Unlike the classic AMG models, however, the engines will be tuned versions off the series production line rather than handcrafted by one person in Affalterbach as is currently the case with the AMG performance cars. The new models also will contribute significantly to lowering the carbon emissions of AMG’s fleet starting next year, the company said. In the last five years, CO2 has been reduced by 35 percent. This is not just important for its European emissions targets, Moers said. ’t impede our growth,” he said. AMG already has enough to cope with just meeting demand from China, let alone additional restrictions potentially imposed by the government.

A: First of all the system requires individual steering of the four dampers, something which is not possible with conventional air suspension. Secondly we make use of the cameras that ‘scan’ the road ahead to see where the corner is going and setup the suspension accordingly to tilt the car into the corner. This is only possible with the Magic Body Control system. Q: Why is Magic Body Control not available on all S-Classes and S-Coupes? A: The Magic Body Control system is a system with particular requirements and it uses quite a bit of space. It is not compatible with the 4matic system per example because of space issues. We would love to offer it on 4matic models as well but it is technically not possible at the moment. With that said we hope to make Magic Body Control also available for other RWD cars in our line-up in the coming years. Q: Why is there a separate mode for ‘Curves’ and not a button so you can activate it in the comfort or sport mode?

A: Technically it would have been possible to add a button to enable it in comfort or sport. But we believe it functions better with its own program considering the different ride heights in comfort and sport. Also the focus is on enhancing the driving experience and not necessarily making faster cornering possible, that’s another reason we believe it was not fit to integrate with the sport mode per example. Q: What is the difference between Magic Body Control on the S500 Coupe and AMG Sport Suspension based on Magic Body Control in the S63 AMG Coupe? A: AMG gave the Magic Body Control setup a performance treatment and in comfort already the ride is firmer than it is in the non-AMG S500. In Sport the car is even stiffer and offers the best performance. Q: Which colors are available for the new S Class Coupe and why are there no bright colors? A: The new S-Class Coupe is available in various black, silver and white tones in metallic and designo finish. There is also a dark blue and a dark green metallic. These colors have been selected based on our customer demands.