The incredible story behind Mercedes’ AMG sports car brand
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Several manufacturers use names or letters to signal that some of their products are going to be of interest to more sporty drivers. Fiat does this with Abarth, Honda uses Type R, Ford applies the RS badge, for Jaguar and Land Rover it’s SVR and BMW manages it with the single letter M.
In the case of Mercedes, the name to look out for is AMG. This is far more than a randomly chosen selection of letters. AMG is now a department within Mercedes, and was once a completely separate company with a splendid history dating back more than 50 years. Here we look back at how AMG started and how it grew to become what it is today.
What's in a name?
AMG stands for Aufrecht, Melcher and Grossaspach, which is as good a reason as any for shortening it to AMG.
The first two words are the surnames of Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher, two employees in the Daimler-Benz Development department who decided to set up in business building race engines on their own in 1967 after Mercedes decided to withdraw (not for the first time) from motorsport.
Grossaspach, a small town in south-west Germany, is where Aufrecht was born. It has no other connection with AMG, since the company has never been based there.
The Red Pig
After a few years of supplying race teams with engines, AMG really attracted public attention with the Roten Sau, or Red Pig. This was a modified Mercedes 300 SEL, already a very fast car in road trim with its 6.3-litre V8 engine.
AMG took this engine, enlarged it to 6.8 litres and raised the power output from around 250bhp to nearly 420. With this monster under the bonnet, the bulky Red Pig used both petrol and tyres at a furious rate, but was able to finish second to a much lighter Ford Capri RS2600 at the 1971 Spa 24 Hour race.
The Hammer
In the early 1970s, AMG expanded its operation by producing upgrades for the Mercedes C-Class, E-Class and S-Class saloons and the SL roadster. In 1986 it moved a stage further by creating a car nicknamed the Hammer.
The Hammer was based on the 300 E but fitted with a big V8 from the 560 SEC luxury coupe. AMG modified the engine considerably, replacing the standard cylinder head with one which had 32 valves rather than the original 16.
With a power output of over 350bhp and a 0-60mph time of around five seconds, the Hammer was enormously fast for its day, as well as being far more practical and comfortable than almost anything with comparable performance.
Closer relations with Mercedes
For most of the 1980s, Mercedes sold a mid-sized premium car called the 190, and introduced a high-performance version called the 190 E.
AMG, still an independent company at the time, was not involved with the creation of the road-going 190 E, whose engine was in fact developed by Cosworth. However, AMG did take the car racing, with official support, and won 50 rounds of the German Touring Car Championship (better known as the DTM) between 1988 and 1993.
AMG also devised its own version of the 190 E road car which had a 3.2-litre six-cylinder engine rather than the smaller four-cylinder units used normally. This was the first AMG car sold through Mercedes dealerships and with a factory warranty.
Co-operation
The connection between AMG and Mercedes, which had always been strong, became even more so in 1990 when the two companies signed a co-operation agreement. All AMG products would now be sold through the worldwide Mercedes dealer network.
The agreement also led to joint development of models rather than modification of existing ones. The first to go on sale, in the mid 1990s, was the C 36 AMG, based on the C-Class and a rival to the contemporary BMW M3.
The C 36’s six-cylinder engine had what now seems like a modest power output of around 280bhp, and was available only with an automatic gearbox. It also handled superbly, though, and was a wonderful car to drive. A more powerful V8 version called the C 43 AMG was introduced a couple of years later.
AMG and HWA
In January 1999 DaimlerChrysler, as the parent company of Mercedes was then known, acquired a majority shareholding in AMG. From then on, the younger brand would concentrate on developing high-performance road cars.
The motorsport side of the business was transferred to a new company called HWA, named after AMG co-founder Hans Werner Aufrecht. Among other activities, HWA runs the Mercedes DTM race team, which currently includes British drivers Gary Paffett and Paul di Resta, both of them former DTM champions.
SUVs
Another significant event in 1999 was the launch of AMG’s first ever SUV. The ML 55 was based on the M-Class but used a 5.4-litre V8 engine which also appeared in several other large vehicles, sometimes supercharged and sometimes not.
Other AMG SUVs have followed. The most extreme currently on sale in the UK is the G 63, which has a 563bhp 5.5-litre V8 under the bonnet.
The complete takeover
DaimlerChrysler bought the remaining shares in AMG on 1 January 2005 and therefore became sole owner of the brand.
For several years the AMG name was included at the end of each car’s title, but more recently it has been moved to near the front. So, for example, the car previously known as the Mercedes E 63 AMG is now the Mercedes-AMG E 63.
Formula 1 involvement
Although AMG no longer takes part in motorsport (except for being included in the branding of the current Mercedes F1 team), it’s part of the Grand Prix scene in other ways.
AMG models have been supplied as safety cars since the 1997 season, the present one being a GT S. AMGs are also used as medical cars.
Going electric
It was inevitable that a battery-powered AMG car would be developed eventually. The SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive had no engine but four motors with a combined power output of around 750bhp.
In June 2013 the car was driven round the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 7 minutes 56.234 seconds. Although hybrid hypercars have gone round considerably quicker, this was the first time an electric vehicle had done the job in under 8 minutes.
The current range
There is now an AMG version of almost every model Mercedes builds. The only ones not included are the B-Class (small MPV), the V-Class (very large MPV) and the Citan van. By contrast, the GT, available in coupe and cabriolet forms with power outputs of up to 577bhp, is sold only in AMG form.
The smallest and least powerful engine of any production AMG is fitted to the 45 versions of the A-Class, CLA-Class and GLA-Class. Its maximum power output was originally 355bhp, but in 2016 this was raised to 376bhp, a phenomenal figure for a two-litre unit.
Latest development
On 1 September 2017, Mercedes-AMG released this teaser image of a car called Project ONE which would be unveiled at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt later that month.
Few details were given, but Mercedes-AMG said the car would be a two-seater with Formula 1-style hybrid technology, a power output of over 1000bhp and a top speed of around 220mph.