What's Brewing in Affalterbach

AMG. The benchmark of high performance luxury. You see them on the street, in dealerships, and at car shows. They represent a new breed of--simply put--supercars that can be driven on a regular basis.

AMG started in 1967 and set a standard of quality engine work. They did small, private jobs up until 15 years ago, when Mercedes Benz asked AMG to help them shove a big and powerful engine into a small, entry level car. The first few AMG Mercedes vehicles such as the E500 was just that. Back then, the huge S500 engine was shoved into an E320, making the E500 the fastest and most powerful E-class ever.

After that, Mercedes had some less-than-succesful AMG models such as the C36, C43, and SL72 AMGs. They were simply overpriced and didn't have as much go as a buyer expected.

In the past 10 years or so, AMG made a comeback. Unlike their older models, the new AMGs didn't use Mercedes engines; they used motors developed exclusively by AMG. The E55 AMG sold as fast as they could make them. Next came the ML55 AMG using the same engine. With 342 horsepower, the ML55 was the most powerful SUV in the entire world. These two stirred up a lot of publicity for AMG and its top-notch image as the new Mercedes performance branch. This also showed the world that Benzes weren't just luxury cars for the old guys.

The enormous success of those two pushed AMG and Mercedes to develop an AMG model for every class. The 5.5 liter V8 was the pride and joy of Mercedes. E55, ML55, S55, CL55, CLK55. The lower classed Benzes used 3.2 liter V6 engines because they were lighter, but due to the installation of a supercharger, it was just as powerful as the big guys. The SLK32 and C32 Kompressors (German-ish style english for "compressor" referring to the compressed air from superchargers) were actually the quickest Mercedes vehicles sold to the public for a short time.



More recently, Mercedes had to keep up with the ever-increasing horsepower numbers all over the world, so supercharger use was no longer restricted to the small engines. The 5.5s became V8 Kompressors, and this included the E55, S55, CL55, as well as the SL55 for the first time. They all had almost 500 horsepower, and were the ultimate luxury ass-haulers. The SLK, C, and CLK got the old normal 5.5's without the superchargers.

And then, as if all those were not enough, Mercedes one-upped their competitors by creating a special V12 Bi-Turbo engine for the flagship cars. The new S65, CL65, and SL65 AMGs would be blindingly fast by themselves, but Benz kicked it up a notch and put not one, but TWO turbos. They all had between 600 and 700 horsepower and torque. That simply made them the kings of the road.

Aside from having Ferrari and Lamborghini performance, AMGs were set apart from any other engine manufacturer because of their simple yet bar-setting philosophy. Working by the phrase "One man, one engine," every single AMG engine is hand-built by one single engineer. Yes, from start to finish: one single person.




Affalterbach, Germany holds one of the world's most advanced engine development plants. The AMG performance factory/technology center is filled with AMG technicians and state-of-the-art concepts. Each technician supervises, builds, and tunes one single AMG engine from start to finish ALL BY HIMSELF. When he is done, he puts a plaque on the engine cover with his signature to mark his work. AMG has been operating this way since the founding of the company and that is what makes their engines so special, unique, and exclusive. The engineers who build it have experience that is unparalleled in the field.




So next time you see a Mercedes fly by, look for the three humble letters on the trunk lid--AMG--and know that you are in the presence of something special and rare. If you can keep up with one of these monsters long enough to get a good look, just beware of two things: a speeding ticket when that AMG outruns the cop, and/or your impulse to go drop $100,000 at your local Mercedes dealership.


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