Gravs

And bringing out an expensive gull winged SLS before it was a marketing master stroke. History has shown it's very hard to compete with the heritage of the 911 and if this new merc were positioned as a jumped up C-class AMG then it would not have worked (see C63 Black series - nice car but didn't take a lot of 911 market share).

But the GT is positioned only slightly beneath SLS, which is happily accepted as being higher end than 911 and also references the 50s gull wings.

The cynic in me thinks Merc only launched the SLS as a stepping-stone to finally get to the 911!

CAlexio

SLS was a styling disaster in my opinion. Thrh lack of rear windows (which were beautiful on the original 300SL gullwing) resulting in that huge B pillar really looked awkward. Front lights were also quite bland. I find the gt to be a much more desirable design, very organic.. Reminiscent of a British coupe. It should sell well

BenDiem

^^^ Agreed on all accounts. I own an AMG, and they are a lot of fun. I love the sound and the abundance of torque.

MB makes a wonderful product. Their long standing engineering contributions to the automobile is second to none. I'll eventually trade my AMG up for the AMG GT in a few years.

IMO, Stuttgart makes great automobiles, lol... I also enjoy their fabulous F1 success this year!

Cheers/BB

frayed

Look at that tq number! Dang!

LOL@Mooty. Takes hellaskill to write like that.

mgent

Question - Why is the AMG GT being compared to the GT3?

I would assume that the real market for this car is the 991 S market and maybe the Turbo market, not the GT3 market... With an equally optioned S likely coming in around 120-ish, it's priced about right, if maybe a bit high... I just tried to spec a 991 similar to a standard MB, and it was $123k... I didn't spec a turbo, but it would be 160-ish? I imagine many 'casual' 911 buyers will take a look at it, and probably like it as it will have a great interior, look more 'exotic' and I'm sure have an amazing sound... 'Casual' 911 buyers represent the vast majority of the annual volume...

My guess is the 'enthusiast' buyer for the GT3 wouldn't be very interested at all, and that's not who MB wants... They'll do a Black Series version, targeting GT3, or more likely RS buyers, and there will likely be a number of those without the RS they desired.. It won't be a great track car, but still many GT3/RS buyers don't track them, so its not a huge worry... They've done a pretty good job selling previous BS cars without too much worry, even at 300+ for the SLS or SL65BS...

Jimmy-D

No interest for me. I am sure the performance numbers will be very good but I do not like the front end and have never been a fan of Mercedes styling. Plus, my Wife has owned a few and they always have issues

Manifold

The AMG GT should be a fun road car, fast with a major cool factor. Trackworthiness remains to be seen, that hasn't been AMG's strong suit, though the BS cars have been decent. Looking forward to the reviews on the car, and glad that another German manufacturer is trying to encroach on Porsche's turf, the competition is needed.

Gravs

The GT is being compared to the 911 not the GT3. Apparently the GT is a 911S and the GTS a TT. I.e. Roughly similar in price & performance respectively. IMO will be a very good match in both cases but will Black Series = GT3? I'm not so sure.

Gravs

911 has a number of ingredients that represent a high barrier to entry:

1. High performance
2. (Relatively) good value for money
3. Good looks
4. Practicality
5. Racing success
6. Heritage
7. Good build quality

A newcomer cannot hope to compete with this. MB is in a good position and can compete on all points except, interestingly, 4 as it will never have 4 seats and be good looking and fast without being rear engined. The problem with the design is actually the 921's saviour!

mrsullivan

i think that unless MB AMG takes a very different direction, there just will be no competition with the Porsche GT cars, maybe more the mainline cars... I have owned two AMG, one was a C63 black series. That car was the ****. The SLS black series is on my bucket list. But again, I see these as muscle cars, not sports cars. Here it was leaving, making room for my 11 GT3...no that is not me, its the transport driver

Gravs

Nice car! What would you say is the difference between a muscle car ans a sports car?

mrsullivan

focus more on raw speed and seat of pants feel vs. precision in handling, steering, lightness, etc. Don't get me wrong, this car had a coilover suspension and handled pretty well. But it was the old formula of huge displacement, huge torque, little rear tires, rear wheel drive, just broke free in every gear, not confidence inspiring in tight twisties, etc. Lots of grunt, power, fun, sounds, etc. But not a tactile sports car experience...

Gravs

Good definition. Interesting you have feel on the muscle car side though.

mrsullivan

I was speaking specifically to seat of pants acceleration feel from NA torque...that's a fun feeling and different than a "momentum" car that makes torque way up high in the rev band. One is not better/worse, just different. I forget the exact specifics, but that black series was in the 400+ lb torque range with a NA motor. Means it was so linear and so everywhere, starting way down low. That's what I meant.

neanicu

I love AMG and I will most likely own one again in the future,but I gave it up after almost 2 years because I was missing a manual box. The E46 M3 with a short shift kit is a brilliant DD. There's nothing like being stuck in traffic going uphill on some bridge with a hard clutch and a shifter so stiff it barely goes into gears. I freakin love it! LOL! No sports car for me without a manual as long as I psychically can. LOL!