If you’re just coming to grips with what Mercedes-Benz’s AMG Sport range is, forget what you know because the automaker is changing things up again.
The AMG Sport range serves as a bridge between Mercedes’ most potent offerings and those of the Mercedes-AMG performance division.
The range includes the likes of the C450 AMG and GLE450 AMG Coupe, and the cars are officially Mercedes products and not proper Mercedes-AMGs.
Car and Driver has learned that those plans have been dropped.
2017 Mercedes-AMG SLC43
The AMG Sport range will now become proper Mercedes-AMGs, and they’ll carry a “43” designation instead of the current "450" numbering. The change has already been instigated with the latest 2017 SLC range. The model originally thought to be a Mercedes SLC450 AMG ended up a Mercedes-AMG SLC43. Soon, a Mercedes-AMG E43 based on the 2017 E-Class will arrive. It will sit under a Mercedes-AMG E63 dedicated performance model.
While the move might end up diluting the Mercedes-AMG brand, it makes sense as the 43-badged cars are developed by Mercedes-AMG engineers and feature many Mercedes-AMG parts. Their engines, though, are shared with the regular Mercedes fleet and don’t follow Mercedes-AMG’s “One Man, One Engine” philosophy.
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