AMG’s product portfolio has mushroomed over the last two decades to the extent that you’ll now find the badge on everything from a four-cylinder hot hatch to the Nürburgring-stomping, supercar-crushing, two-seat GT Black Series.
But it sounds like Mercedes-AMG is planning to thin down its range going forward, specifically by scaling back its efforts at the more affordable end of its lineup to concentrate on the high-dollar items.
The company’s new boss, Philipp Schiemer, told Autocar that AMG’s model range will “decrease a little bit”, keeping it in line with what the magazine suggests are industry-wide electrification trends.
Leaving aside the AMG-Line trim levels, which will no doubt continue, in Europe you can buy genuine AMG-engineered cars ranging from the £40,000 ($56,000) A35 hot hatch all the way up to the £335,000 ($465,000) GT Black Series. AMG’s entry-level car in North America is the $45,850 A35 sedan.
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But it looks like the bottom rung on the AMG ladder is about to become higher as the company prioritizes its more expensive cars which might sell in smaller quantities, but have bigger profit margins.
That news is almost certainly related to Schiemer’s suggestion that future AMG models could become more different from regular Mercedes cars thanks to a unique EV platform the company is currently developing.
The weight of battery packs means AMG’s first EVs will be heavier than the combustion cars they replace. But Schiemer told Autocar that clever chassis software will disguise the extra heft and that improvements in charging times and infrastructure will help customers accept the idea of an AMG with smaller batteries, which will enable the company to reduce curb weights.
