AMG - Aufrecht Melcher Großaspach
Overview
AMG started off by designing and testing racing engines. They expanded their business into building bespoke road cars, based upon standard Mercedes cars.
By the early 1980s, AMG had moved to nearby located in Affalterbach under the sole ownership of Aufrecht. Erhard Melcher stayed at the second location, a former mill in Burgstall, to deliver engine parts.
Mainly for the modern Mercedes-Benz W126 and Mercedes-Benz W201 models, AMG was producing a range of unofficial upgrade and accessories packages, although there were no official tie-ups until the mid '80s, when AMG started to supply the company with aftermarket alloy wheels and styling products.
To take advance of the DTM race successes, official AMG-Mercedes models were developed in the 1990s. Since the Mercedes-Benz takeover, AMG sales have risen over 500%.
AMG also provides safety cars for the FIA Formula 1 World Championship
[u]Racing[/u]
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, AMG entered the big Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 6.3 V8 sedan in the Spa 24 Hours and the European Touring Car Championship.
AMG and Mercedes worked together on Mercedes-Benz W201 cars for the 1988 Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM, German Touring Car Championship). AMG was made the official partner.
In order to retain a small dedicated racing team, H.W.A GmbH was founded by H.-W. Aufrecht in 1999. Their first car was the ill-fated Mercedes-Benz CLR. Since 2000, HWA builds and runs the cars for Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM).
Six successive lightly modified Mercedes-Benz AMG models (including, most recently, an SLK 55) have acted as the official Safety Cars of the F1 racing series.
[u]Relationship with Pagani[/u]
AMG also provides engines for the Pagani Zonda supercar. The engines used are variants of the M120 V12 originally used in the SL73 AMG. The M120 is the largest displacement naturally-aspirated engine provided by AMG and is now exclusively used by Pagani.
[u]Models[/u]
Through the early 2000s, AMG focused on supercharged engines (with the exception of the V12 used in the Pagani Zonda), but the company officially abandoned this technology in 2006 with the introduction of the M156 V8. On January 16, 2006, Mercedes-AMG Chairman Volker Mornhinweg told AutoWeek that the company would use turbocharging for higher output rather than supercharging
[u]Current AMG models[/u]
All AMG engines are hand built using a "one man, one engine" philosophy at the current AMG plant in Affalterbach, Germany. To signify this, each AMG engine builder stamps the engines they produce with an engraved plaque depicting their signature.
As part of the official Mercedes product line, the AMG models are sold side-by-side with regular production models, unlike those offered by other Mercedes tuning firms such as Brabus.
55's
The main engine is a 5.4 L V8 unit, designated the M113, that carries the "55" designation. However, this engine comes in two configurations.
The first configuration is found in the C55 AMG, CLK55 AMG and SLK55 AMG is a naturally aspirated V8 with 360 PS (355 hp/265 kW).
The other configuration is a similar unit but with a highly efficient Lysholm type supercharger manufactured by IHI, found in the rest of the AMG 55 models. The published output according to Mercedes varies from 476 PS (469 hp/350 kW) to 517 PS (509 hp/380 kW) depending on various methods of power measurements and different ECU programming for national legislations.
AMG will phase out both the naturally aspirated and supercharged 5.4 L engines in favor of the new M156 V8 beginning in 2006.
M113 5.4 L "55" V8 models (naturally aspirated)
C55 AMG
CLK55 AMG
SLK55 AMG
M113 5.4 L "55" V8 models (supercharged)
E55 AMG
S55 AMG
CLS55 AMG
CL55 AMG
SL55 AMG
G55 AMG
65's
AMG also produces a 612hp, 6.0 L V12 engine with twin turbochargers - designated with the "65" badge.
M275 AMG 6.0 L "65" V12 models (turbocharged)
CL65 AMG
S65 AMG
SL65 AMG
DTM
CLK DTM AMG
63's
AMG developed its own V8 engine (dubbed M156 in development) for the DTM series. This naturally aspirated V8 will also be used to replace most of the "55" models. The published output according to Mercedes varies from 481 PS (474 hp/354 kW) to 514 PS (506 hp/378 kW)
M156 6.2 L "6.3" V8 models
2007 S63 AMG (Introduced at the 2006 Paris Motor Show)
2006 ML63 AMG (Introduced at the 2006 North American International Auto Show)
2006 R63 AMG (Introduced at the 2006 North American International Auto Show)
2007 CLK63 AMG (Introduced at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show) (Used as Safety Car for the 2006 F1 Grand Prix)
2007 CLS63 AMG (Introduced at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show)
2007 C63 AMG
2007 E63 AMG
2008 CL63 AMG
2008 SLK63 AMG
30's
OM612 3.0 L "30" I5 Diesel models
C30 CDI AMG
[u]Previous AMG models[/u]
In addition to the models listed below, there were also predecessors to the current AMG models. All utilized either the current M113 5.5 L normally aspirated Single Overhead-Cam V8, or a previous version of it. These models included:
1998-2001 SL55 AMG
1999-2002 E55 AMG
2001-2002 CLK55 AMG
Other previous AMG models include:
1980's SEL/SEC 6.0
1986 300E/CE "Hammer" AMG
1989 190E 2.5-16V Evolution II AMG
1995-1998 C36 AMG
1995, 1998-2001 SL73 AMG
1996-1998 SL60 AMG
1998-2000 C43 AMG
1998-2002 CLK-GTR AMG
2000-2004 C32 AMG
2000-2002 ML55 AMG
2001-2004 SLK32 AMG
2001 CL63 AMG
2001 S63 AMG
for further info please go to: http://www.mercedes-amg.com/