It’s just as well BMW is launching a limited-edition version of the M4 with water-injection. It’s going to need it to hose down the fire from the Mercedes-AMG C 63 Coupe.
Due to be unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show in September following its online reveal on August 19, the new C 63 Coupe is based around the layout of the already-booming C 63 sedan, but is said to be more a focused beastie.
Pictured here in official images undergoing final validation tests at Germany’s Hockenheim racetrack, the C 63 Coupe will hit Australian shores at a price level above the $154,900 C 63 S sedan.
The second generation of the smallest AMG coupe, the C 63 will borrow its urge from the GT’s biturbo 4.0-litre V8, posting a crunching 375kW of power sent to the rear wheels.
It will top a range of C-Class Coupes in Frankfurt, with engine variants from the C 450 Sport to the C250's four-cylinder turbo petrol motors all being represented.
It will share the C 63’s driveline from front to back, so expect 700Nm from relatively low rpm from the M178, with a few cost-down, driveability tweaks separating it from the GT’s M177 code. There is also a seven-speed automatic transmission, with wheel-mounted paddle shifters and there is no longer a central gearshift lever.
AMG insiders say it should get to 100km/h in less than four seconds (the M4 claims 4.1) and will be limited to 250km/h.
And, though there will be a 350kW/600Nm entry-level version of this car in Europe, MB Australia has nixed it for local roads. Australians just wanna go fast.
That’s considerably more power than the M4’s 317kW of power and 550Nm of torque, though the Lexus RC F’s naturally aspirated 5.0-litre V8 puts out 351kW (though a relatively low 530Nm of torque).
AMG insiders say there has been a determination to make the Coupe feel harder and sharper than the sedan, so it has very different suspension tuning and elasto-kinematics.
There will also be a lower centre of gravity than the sedan and though it inherits the same electro-mechanical power steering, it will be sharper and more direct in the two-door version.
The new AMG C-Class Coupe will also have a mechanical limited-slip differential, though there is the option of an electronically controlled version — likely to be standard in the S — which AMG says reacts even faster.