As you might expect from a company with engineering at its core, AMG does things in a rather straightforward manner.
Naturally, the launch of the gleaming new Mercedes-AMG GT contained a sprinkling of star dust – Formula 1 championship leader Nico Rosberg made a guest appearance and some fireworks heralded the arrival of the car in question – but there was no disguising the fact that the launch venue was essentially a side road on AMG’s premises in the modest German town of Affalterbach. Earl’s Court this wasn’t.
That’s not to denigrate the event – AMG would rather your focus was purely on the metal. And to reinforce that, it rolled out a collection of its greatest (and most ferocious) cars from the past – the 300 SEL 6.8 AMG racing car that started it all back in 1971, the barnstorming 300 CE 6.0 AMG known as ‘The Hammer’ and the cutting-edge all-electric SLS AMG Electric Drive.
AMG likes to celebrate the employees at the heart of what it does. The company’s founders, Hans-Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher were present and a selection of the current employees were on hand along the road side to savour the moment. The whole 1000-strong work force has been invited to a party this coming Saturday to celebrate the official birth of the Mercedes-AMG GT.
“AMG is a mid-size company in its best sense. We regard ourselves as a team and we work with flat hierarchies,” said company boss Tobias Moers. “We are definitely engineer-driven, and what we do here is more than just our job; we attack every day with passion."
Moers also pointed out that the growing success of the company – which enjoyed its highest sales ever in 2013 and is on course to surpass 40,000 units this year – is a justification that cool brands can come from anywhere.
“You no doubt noticed that Affalterbach is not exactly a big city and doesn’t sound any more global than Zuffenhausen or Maranello,” he said. “But the success of Mercedes-AMG proves that world-class brands don’t have to come from New York, Paris or London.”
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Once again, any negative
The AMG is not a lifestyle vehicle
Why no mention of Jaguar
Soldi, I wasn't at the
I wasn't at the Jaguar launch, and only watched a small portion of it online, so it feels a little remiss to make a direct comparison. What comments I did read, however, suggested the actual reveal of the car could have happened slightly quicker...
That's a selfish journalist view, though, driven by the practicalities and time pressure of internet deadlines.
Generally, however, we'd probably be happy with a dust sheet being lifted off a car and more time to speak to the people responsible for its development.
At the AMG event we were treated to a full-bore dyno test of the new V8 which was pretty cool!
However, Moparman touches on a good point - launches aren't really for hacks, or not just for them. They're more about communicating the image of a particular model or brand direct to the wider world.
MB
Jaguar launch a joke