The Mercedes AMG is a line of high performance, luxury cars manufactured by the Mercedes-Benz car company. Although all of the Mercedes lines are high quality vehicles, the AMG in particular is the cream of this automotive crop. Typically, cars in the AMG line have better handling, are more stable, perform better, and are more expensive than their counterparts. This may be because AMG was originally founded as a racing team in 1967 by Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher. Being former Mercedes engineers, it is safe to say that these two knew a little bit of something about putting together high performance vehicles. In January 2005, the company was sold to Daimler Benz and has been a subsidiary ever since.

When Mercedes AMG was first started, their focus was on producing racing engines. For a time, they produced aftermarket upgrades for Mercedes cars, particularly the W107, W126, W124, R129, and W201 models. In 1986, they released the AMG Hammer which became the world’s fastest passenger sedan with a 5.6 L V8 360 hp engine under the hood. Additional models produced down the line carried even more powerful engines as well as the 17 inch AMG Aero 1 Hammer wheels. Although they wanted to focus on building supercharged engines, the company turned on its heel and decided to focus on producing engines with a higher output instead.

As you would expect for such high performance vehicles, Mercedes AMG cars took to racing like a fish to water. In the 60s and 70s, the Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 6.3 V8 saloon called, Red Sow, finished 2nd in the SPA 24 Hours. It was also entered in the European Touring Car Championship. In 1988, the Mercedes-Benz W201 was raced in the DTM German Touring Car Championship. These cars have also served as safety cars for the FIA Formula One World Championship. In addition to producing cars and engines for Mercedes, AMG has a partnership with Pagani. They provide variations of the M120 engine are used exclusively in the Pagani Zonda supercar.

Mercedes AMG produces several models of cars. The first is the 55 which has been in production since 1999 and started life with a 5.4 L V8 engine called the M113. Eventually they phased out this style of motor in favour of the M156 V8 in 2006. The 63 uses the M156 engine as well. This naturally aspirated engine is capable of producing 451 hp to 518 hp. The AMG 65 sports a 5 speed automatic transmission, the only one to do so in the entire line, as well as a V12 engine. The Black Series are 2-door pure performance vehicles that are lightweight, come with bucket seats and an assortment of alterations to its exterior. Mercedes AMG cars’ main competitors are BMW’s M cars, the Audi RS models, Jaguar, Cadillac and Lexus. The company focuses on making the cars sporty and aggressive, capable of giving the driver the smooth as silk ride they want coupled with the luxury and exclusivity they need.