Mercedes-AMG debates GT future

The future of Mercedes-AMG’s homegrown GT family of coupes and convertibles is up for debate right now within the halls of power at its Affalterbach headquarters.

In the shorter term the wildly successful Benz hot tuner is debating whether to top its stunning 430kW GT R with a Black Series.

For the longer term, it is also trying to figure out whether to evolve the current mid/front-engine rear-wheel drive architecture, or to junk it and go to all-new underpinnings for generation two.

AMG revealed the 410kW GT C at the Detroit motor show and announced upgrades across the range. There are now six road-going GT variants and all of them should be in Australia by the third quarter of 2017.

It also spread the Panamericana grille across the entire GT line-up. It is expected to cover the entire AMG line-up in time.

Mercedes-AMG boss Tobias Moers said the sheer effort required to lift the Black Series above the GT R – and top the output of the 450kW E 63 S as well — was a huge part of the challenge of building it, especially considering the amount of other work the company had on its plate.

“We are so fully loaded with work, expansion of the portfolio things like that,” Moers said. “So it (a Black Series) needs dedication to do such a car. The GT R was a lot of dedication.

“As you can imagine lifecycle-wise regarding next generation (GT) is something we are working on, so there must be room for us to do so.

“Maybe that is a self-fulfilling prophecy, expanding the portfolio, doing a lot of work, maybe that means we don’t have enough room to do a Black Series.

“It is an internal discussion we now have to do.”

Another part of that internal discussion is the second-generation GT and whether to go with a clean sheet of paper or adopt a Porsche 911-style evolutionary approach or not.

“That is what we are working on and it is not finally done,” he said. “We have started visibility for next generation.”

Whatever the basis, Moers made it clear there would be more GT variants added, in the same way there are a profusion of 911s or Jaguar F-TYPEs.

“I think everybody is the same in that segment,” Moers said. “We didn’t have that with the SLS because the entry-point regarding pricing far beyond the GT.

“It was a kind of strategic discussion when we set up the GT program and it was always part of the strategy to expand the portfolio.

“The GT gives us the opportunity to expand the portfolio up to the GT R and maybe beyond that.

While all this is up for debate, the much-rumoured upcoming four-door GT 4 does seem to have been locked away.

“All rumours are not necessarily wrong,” Moers said.

The Panamera rival is expected to be unveiled in concept form this year and be based on the MRA rear/all-wheel drive architecture that underpins the C-, E- and S-Class and their AMG spin-offs.