NEW YORK MOTOR SHOW: AMG boss cans four-door GT

The rumour mill is buzzing in Germany that Mercedes-AMG is planning a four-door version of its new GT sports car.

The GT (pictured), which picked up the World Performance Car of the Year award during the New York Show, is, on the surface, an odd starting point for a four-door coupe.

It's an aluminium space-frame car with a chassis based around the superseded SLS coupe and that, combined with its complicated rear suspension, wouldn't readily lend itself to converting to a four-door.

So you'd think Mercedes-AMG president Tobias Moers would just dismiss the rumours, started in Bild magazine, out of hand.

He didn't.

"There are no comments on our side on that topic," he told Motoring.com.au in New York.

And then he went on to make more comments.

"We could have a stand-alone four-door sports car that isn't shared with Mercedes-Benz. We could," he insisted.

"Using a GT platform is not feasible for that, though. From the space frame concept, everything we need in a car like a four-door is not feasible."

It's clear, though, that Mercedes-AMG is thinking heavily about a second stand-alone model and what that could be. And when. And how.

"Is there a business case, yes or no. That is all the four-door GT has to answer. Is there a potential buyer group worldwide for that kind of car?" Moers explained.

"There will come a family out of the GT. That's what I've always said. Other variants will come and not just the Black Series."

For now, though, there are significant technical questions to answer about a four-door GT – and those are the questions Moers is reluctant to directly answer.

"Look, if it depended [four-door] on the growth of the company there would never be a second car that's just for Mercedes-AMG.

"If AMG was too big, then we would not be flexible anymore. We would not be the speedboat of Mercedes-Benz anymore.

"But if we put enough effort into a car like a C- or an E-, then it's possible to keep our pure performance models like the GT and its family."

The definition of what an AMG actually is has evolved over the last decade, moving from pure fast cars based on Mercedes-Benz models to cars like the SLR, the SLS and the GT and, recently, the front drive-based A 45, GLA 45 and CLA 45 models, plus the AMG Sport models.

"AMG cars are so present now. It's a world-wide working company. It's not just the high-end luxury performance brand anymore. But should it be?

"We want to be an approachable brand in the sports segment.

"In September there will be a C63 Coupe as well, which has taken a lot of work. It's what would happen if a Black Series and a C63 205 met."

"Then we have the Sport models. Even the development of a Sport model takes capacity from engineering for things like ESP and steering or suspension.

"There is high workload in that segment for us now."