No plans for AMG prepped Mercedes-Benz GLK

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.