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Mercedes-AMG GmbH, commonly known as AMG ( Aufrecht, Melcher, Großaspach), is the high-performance subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz. AMG independently hires engineers and contracts with manufacturers to customize Mercedes-Benz AMG vehicles. The company has its headquarters in Affalterbach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
AMG was originally an independent engineering firm specializing in performance improvements for Mercedes-Benz vehicles. DaimlerChrysler AG took a controlling interest in 1999, then became the sole owner of AMG in 2005. Mercedes-AMG GmbH is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz AG, which is in turn owned by the Mercedes-Benz Group.
AMG models typically have more aggressive looks, higher performance, better handling, better stability and more carbon fibre than their regular Mercedes-Benz counterparts. AMG models are typically the most expensive and highest-performing variant of each Mercedes-Benz class. AMG has also made special variants of some Mitsubishi and Honda models.
AMG variants are usually badged with two numerals, as opposed to regular Mercedes-Benz vehicles, which have three (e.g. "E 63" as opposed to "E 350"). The numerals do not always indicate engine size, but are rather a tribute to earlier heritage cars, such as the 300 SEL 6.3 litre. For example, newer-model AMG V8s such as the E 63 actually have 4.0L V8s.
The world's first stand-alone Mercedes-AMG dealership, AMG Sydney, was opened in Sydney, Australia in 2018.
By 1993, AMG became a high-profile purveyor of modified Mercedes-Benz vehicles. That year, Daimler-Benz AG and AMG entered into a cooperation agreement, enabling AMG to use Daimler-Benz's dealer network and to develop joint vehicles, the first being the Mercedes-Benz C36 AMG.
On 1 January 1999, DaimlerChrysler AG (as it was called between 1998 and 2007) acquired 51 percent of AMG shares, and the company was renamed Mercedes-AMG GmbH. The racing engine division was separated and continues to operate in Burgstall under the name HWA Team, derived from Aufrecht's initials. On 1 January 2005, Aufrecht sold his remaining shares to DaimlerChrysler, and since then, Mercedes-AMG GmbH has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group.
During the early 1980s and up until 1990, AMG offered a variety of engine performance packages, alloy wheels and styling products as an entirely independent company from Daimler-Benz. In 1990, AMG signed a co-operation agreement with Daimler-Benz, and AMG options and cars were then offered in Mercedes-Benz showrooms; in 1999 Daimler AG, then known as DaimlerChrysler AG, bought the controlling share of AMG and made them part of the official Mercedes-Benz line-up.
Typical AMG performance enhancements, which the buyer could custom order, included increased engine displacements (5.2 litre, 5.4 litre), performance top ends with port and polished heads and intake, lightened valve train, and more aggressive cams. The DOHC 32V engine had also just been developed and was the pinnacle of AMG performance. A Getrag five-speed manual transmission could be ordered from AMG, and Mercedes had not offered a manual transmission V8 since the early 1970s.
The performance wheels offered during the same period were 15-inch or 16-inch ATS AMG Five Spoke Road Wheels, typically coupled with an AMG performance suspension package that included uprated and lowered springs, and re-valved shock absorbers.
Also popular were AMG body kits. These ranged from subtle front spoilers to aggressive Wide Body kits for the W126 coupes (reaching more than $700k on the classic market in 2022). Other options included Recaro seats, smaller diameter steering wheels, instrument clusters, chrome delete option (all brightworks colour-coded or painted satin black), refrigerators, shift knobs, hi-fi stereo systems, custom upholstery and enhanced interior wood packages.
An AMG-modified W124 E-Class was claimed to be the world's fastest passenger sedan in 1986. Nicknamed the Hammer, it featured an AMG-tuned 5.6-litre DOHC Mercedes-Benz V8 in a midsized sedan. Advanced for its time for a street engine, it had four valves per cylinder and was claimed to push the car faster than a Lamborghini Countach from 60 to 120 mph. Later models were even more powerful and introduced the 17-inch AMG Aero 1 Hammer wheels.
Through the early 2000s, AMG focused principally on supercharged V8 and V6 engines, but the company officially abandoned this technology in 2006 with the introduction of the naturally aspirated 6.2 L M156 V8. On 16 January 2006, Mercedes-AMG Chairman Volker Mornhinweg told AutoWeek that the company would use turbocharging for higher output rather than supercharging. For 2011, AMG released the M157 5.5L bi-turbo V8, which has supplanted the M156 in its full-sized cars such as the S-Class and CL-Class (and is trickling down to the CLS, E-Class, and ML-class). In 2012, Mercedes-AMG Chairman Olla Kallenius said that Mercedes-AMG will not produce diesel engines to compete with BMW's tri-turbo diesels (BMW M Performance range).
Although there were some AMG models in the 1980s with manual transmissions, almost all recent models have used automatics (5G-Tronic, 7G-Tronic and later 9G-Tronic with Speedshift), in contrast to BMW M, which used manual and recently automatic transmissions (the current type being a dual clutch transmission).
Although these are considered the most well known in-house tuning divisions, Mercedes-AMG has a considerably different philosophy than BMW M. Compared to BMW M, Mercedes-AMG is "less narrow in its sporting focus, yet still combining sledgehammer performance with relaxed handling, cultured comfort, and practicality".
While founders Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher had emphasized proper racing cars, Mercedes-AMG had diverged considerably from this philosophy in recent years, with their offerings being well known for straight-line acceleration but poor handling dynamics. However, current Mercedes-AMG chairman Volker Mornhinweg has urged the division to return to its roots of building sports cars.
When DaimlerChrysler acquired a majority share of AMG in 1999, the motor racing department was divested into HWA AG. Their first car was the ill-fated Mercedes-Benz CLR. Since 2000, HWA builds and runs the cars for Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM), as well as the M271 engine tuned for use in Formula 3.
In 2000, an extensively modified one-off Mercedes-Benz AMG CLK 55 was built by the AMG Factory as a purpose-built race car to compete in the 2001 Targa Tasmania 7 day road race. Mick Doohan was the works Mercedes-Benz AMG driver. Six successive lightly modified Mercedes-Benz AMG models (including, most recently, a C190 GT Black Series) have acted as the for the FIA Formula One World Championship.
Since 2010, the SLS AMG GT3 and the AMG GT3 have been competing in GT competitions around the world, such as the FIA GT3 European Championship, Blancpain Endurance Series, Blancpain Sprint Series, VLN, 24 Hours of Nürburgring, British GT Championship, Super GT, Australian GT Championship, Bathurst 12 Hour, Dubai 24 Hour, Macau GT Cup and Pirelli World Challenge.
In late 2011, after the end of the Formula One season, Mercedes GP Petronas announced that it would be using the AMG branding for its F1 efforts, changing its name to Mercedes AMG Petronas from the 2012 season onwards.
Three AMG E-Class V8 Supercars competed in the Australian Supercars Championship from 2013 to 2015, operated by Erebus Motorsport under the AMG Customer Sports Program.
Since the 2021 Formula One, the German marque shares the role as the official Safety car supplier with Aston Martin.
As part of the official Mercedes product line, the AMG models are sold side by side with regular production models, unlike those offered by other Mercedes tuning firms such as Brabus.
At and 500 nm in the 45 S variant, the M139 with twin-scroll turbo was the world's most powerful four-cylinder engine in serial production at the time with a specific output of 208 hp per litre or 104 hp per cylinder.
These are powered by the new Mercedes-Benz M 256 inline six cylinder engine.
Launched in the UK market in April 2015, the 4-litre M178 V8 uses an unusual configuration where the position of the intake and exhaust are reversed, to create a more compact engine and hence vehicle design. This "hot inside v" configuration, as AMG calls it, has the exhaust gasses exiting into the central v area of the engine block where the engine's twin turbochargers are also mounted.
The M139 found in the C 63 S E-Performance produces , giving it a specific output of per litre or per cylinder, making it the current most powerful four-cylinder engine in serial production.
"65" models used a 5-speed automatic transmission for a long time, as the newer 7G-Tronic wasn't able to handle the torque from the V12 engines. This was changed with the introduction of 2012 SL 65 AMG, which uses the same AMG SpeedShift MCT transmission as the rest of the AMG line-up.
Coinciding with the facelift of the CL-Class for the 2011 model year, the 2011 CL 65 AMG had an enhanced engine. AMG redesigned the exhaust gas turbochargers and added new engine electronics. It produced 621 horsepower, pushing the car from in 4.2 seconds (0.2 seconds faster than the 2011 CL 63), with an electronically limited top speed of . The update also improved fuel economy and reduced carbon emissions by 3.5% over the outgoing model.
5.5 L V8 BiTurbo models carry the "63" model designation, shared with the 6.2L V8 models. Visually, the 2011 S 63 AMG is differentiated from the 2010 model (itself face-lifted over the 2009 S 63) by the more angular design of the chromed dual exhaust tips, which also sport embossed AMG logos, as well as new forged wheels. For the CL 63 AMG, the new M157 engine coincides with the facelift of the CL-Class for the 2011 model year.
Despite common belief, 63 AMG models are typically faster than their 65 AMG counterparts. An S 63 AMG accelerates faster and handles better than an S 65 AMG (due to 4-wheel drive and decreased weight), and an SL 63 AMG accelerates faster than an SL 65 AMG due to decreased torque, lower weight, and better balance by use of the V8.
Since 2013, AMG models with the S-Model package feature all-wheel drive, which allows for better handling and better acceleration. The Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG S has been tested to accelerate to 60 mph in just 3.2 seconds, with a quarter mile time of 11.6 seconds. This made it the quickest production sedan at the time. MotorTrend tested the 2014 E 63 AMG S with the M157 engine to produce an estimated and .
AMG developed its own V8 engine (dubbed M156 in development) for the DTM series. The M156, in various states of tune, was used in models such as the SL 63, E 63, CLS 63, and S 63 until it was replaced by the M157 5.5 L Biturbo V8. This naturally aspirated V8 replaced most of the "55" models. The published output according to Mercedes varies from on the C 63 AMG, to on the C/CLK/R/ML/GL/S/SL/CL/E 63 AMG. The 2008 S 63/CL 63/SL 63s that used the M156 engine at 518 horsepower edged out that of the S600/CL600/SL600, the latter powered by the 510 horsepower 5.5-liter twin-turbo V12, while also having a higher redline. However, the S600/CL600/SL600 is more expensive and has more torque at . The S 63/CL 63/SL 63, however, do have quicker acceleration times than their S600/CL600/SL600 counterparts and are the fastest in the lineup in 2014, due to the added weight and torque of the 65s, thus decreasing the 0-60 times and the handling limits.
Compared to the "55" supercharged 5.4 L V8 engine—which was restricted to the Speedshift 5G-Tronic five-speed automatic transmission, as it had a torque capacity of —the reduced torque of the "63" M156 6.2L V8 means it can be mated with the more efficient 7G-Tronic, which can withstand a limit of . Despite the reduction in torque, the increased horsepower and more efficient transmission enable the 63 models to match or surpass the acceleration of the "55" models. Most of the M156-engined models used the 7G-Tronic automatic transmission, however the more recent 2009 SL 63, 2010 E 63, and 2012 C 63 use the 7-speed MCT transmission.
In 2009, AMG developed the M159 engine, which is based on the M156 engine, to use in SLS AMG. The M159 produces 583 horsepower and 489 lb-ft of torque in the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT, and 622 horsepower and 468 lb-ft in the SLS AMG Black Series.
While rival BMW M developed the SMG-II automated manual for the BMW M3, the C 32 and SLK 32 have a 5-speed automatic transmission's "Speedshift" system, which now has quicker response (up to 35 percent) to accelerator and shift selector movements.
The C 32 had a smaller engine than its predecessors, the C 36 AMG with the M104 3.6L I6 engine, and the C 43 AMG powered by the M113 4.3L V8 engine. The C 32 AMG can do 0– in 5.2sec 0–100 in 12.6 with a 1/4 mile of 13.6 at 106 mph (C&D comparison test May 2003).
The main engine is a 5.4 L V8 engine This engine comes in two configurations.
The supercharged 5.4 L 24 valve V8 engine was mated to the Speedshift 5-speed automatic transmission, which has a torque capacity of , as the newer 7G-Tronic introduced in 2003 is limited to , which is not enough to handle the torque from the supercharged V8.
The V8 S 55 AMG had an output comparable to the V12-powered S600 throughout its production. The S 55 AMG (2001–02) was outfitted with a 5.4 L V8 engine while the later versions (2003–06) sported the same motor, but supercharged to a rated . The S600 (2001–02) was outfitted with a 5.8L V12 engine while the later versions (2003–06) sported a twin-turbocharged (or Bi-Turbo) 5.5L V12. The justification for having two models with the same power is that the S 55 AMG is sportier and more responsive, while the costlier S600 is more luxurious with a smoother ride.
AMG phased out both the naturally aspirated and supercharged 5.4 L engines in favor of the new M156 V8 beginning in 2006, which was paired with 7G-Tronic. However, some enthusiasts were disappointed because the naturally aspirated M156 produces less torque than the supercharged M113K.
For the Model Year 2009:
These are powered by a naturally aspirated 6.3L V12 producing . This engine is based on the M137 5.8L V12 used in the S 600 and CL 600, but the AMG variants have a larger displacement, a new management system, a new crank case and cooling system, weight-optimized pistons, and a new camshaft with greater valve lift and modified valves. of torque are available between 2500 and 5800 rpm with a peak of at 4400 rpm while horsepower grows by almost 80 over the 5.8L V12. It is mated to a 5-speed automatic transmission. The 2001 S 63 AMG V12 had 100 hp more than the 2001 S 55 AMG, and was a few tenths faster.
Extremely rare was the SL 73 AMG, sold through Mercedes-AMG in 1995, and offering the most powerful V12 engine ever put into an SL up to that time. After a brief hiatus, the SL 73 was offered again from 1998 to 2001. The same 7.3 L V12 was later used by Pagani in the Pagani Zonda.
Even rarer is the SL 70 AMG (7.0 L (7055 cc) V12 engine).
The SL 55 AMG was sold in the R129 body style from 1998 to 2001 in limited numbers (5.4L V8, at 5500 rpm). It was the predecessor of the production R230 SL 55 AMG sold later, albeit was normally aspirated in the R129 and not supercharged as in its R230 successor.
As of July 2024, the AMG GT Black Series is the second fastest sports car in Nürburgring Nordschleife, behind the Porsche 991 GT2 RS Manthey Performance Kit.
In 1989, the Mitsubishi Galant AMG was launched, with about 500 units produced for the Japanese domestic market until 1991. The vehicle was equipped with an AMG-tuned Mitsubishi 4G63 engine producing and featured a body kit, alloy wheels, and a full leather interior.
The partnership between Mercedes-Benz and Honda in South Africa was driven by Mercedes' desire to expand its local lineup with more affordable models, while Honda sought to enter the South African market. Due to Mercedes' reluctance to invest in an entry-level model and Honda's lack of infrastructure and brand recognition in the country, a deal was made where Mercedes-Benz South Africa would build and sell Honda models. The South African Honda Ballades were essentially rebadged Honda Civics, featuring additional luxury equipment and positioned below models such as the Mercedes 190.
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