Mercedes and its official in-house tuner AMG has been widely criticized for sticking its potent V8 engines into almost anything wearing the Three Pointed Star. Case in point was the disastrous R63, a people mover packing a 6.3L V8 and hyped as a performance car. Fortunately, product planners won’t be making the same mistake by launching an AMG version of the GLK soft-roader. The GLK is after all a soft cruiser designed for the cafe strip and shopping malls, not exactly the type of vehicle you want putting upwards of 500hp to the ground. According to AMG Chairman Volker Mornhinweg, who spoke recently with AutoTelegraaf, there’s “no space” in AMG’s lineup for a third SUV model (the first two being the ML and G-Class models). When determining whether to spend the millions of dollars on developing a car with an AMG badge, officials first look at the character of the car and whether it fits in fit the AMG philosophy of performance and luxury, Mornhinweg explained. He also said the tuner’s current portfolio is getting very crowded and two SUV models are already more than enough. Source: Motor Authority No plans for AMG prepped Mercedes-Benz GLK
Yeah, this is good news. No GLK AMG, no GL AMG... I hope no CLC AMG... Mornhinweg seems to put AMG really on the sporty side, not only big motor but a complete package. That is perfect.
Good. An AMG GLK is like an R63 AMG: pointless. I'm glad they're not thinking about a GLK63 AMG or a GL63 AMG. I don't think there's a huge market for them either. AFAIK the ML63 AMG is a pretty low seller - and the R63 AMG sold pretty poorly too.
Good. What Mercedes should do if customer demand more power is do a limited-production, sporty version of the GLK, the GLK550. With a special AMG styling kit and what not like the ML550 and GL550. What I'd like to see Mercedes do is more one-off models that aren't AMGs, like the old W124 500E was. Something like a CLS600 with wider fenders and what not like that old 500E and an even more bespoke interior, but not an AMG product. A GLK550 with an AMG kit and a special interior but with more a luxury slant would be nice IMO. It would be a first in the segment and it wouldn't tarnish the AMG image like the R63 did. M
Good. I've got two ML63s, and E63s collecting dust on the showroom. All the high end stuff is just good when it first comes out, then it's a depreciation monster.
Unfortunately, the M5's and M6's are having the same problem. Did your dealership mark those cars up?
^^ It's common, see it as collateral damage of mass production. The resale value tend to be high until the hungry early adopters have been fed, which is usually 1-2 years into the production. A huge drop in value is noted 3-4 years when the first years production batch run out of warranty. Too bad AMGs depreciate worst than M cars. You can for example get an 05 CLS55 for slightly higher than half the price of a new one. Looking at the price of M5s on the used market very few of them have lost more than 20-30% of their value.
