Performance division is set to concentrate on high-end models in electrification era.
Mercedes-AMG’s model range will “decrease a little bit” in future, according to Philipp Schiemer, the high-performance division’s new boss.
He said that during previous boss, now Aston Martin CEO, Tobias Moers’ time AMG reached “a phenomenal position in the performance market” but believes that in line with industry-wide electrification trends AMG’s model range will scale back.
The company will concentrate on high-end models, he said, and reduce its output at the entry-level.
Future models may also diverge further in design from the regular Mercedes range as AMG starts to make use of a unique performance EV platform currently under development.
The company’s engineers and designers will also increase their efforts to incorporate cutting-edge technology, especially more sophisticated aerodynamics, into their designs.
Ever more sophisticated chassis software will compensate for the unavoidable weight increase brought by batteries, said Schiemer, although he also believes the rise of rapid-charging and better charging infrastructure should eventually lead customers to accept cars with smaller and lighter batteries, which will deliver a benefit in higher performance.
Among the initiatives designed to help AMG to meet the challenge of the battery-electric age is closer co-operation between the Affalterbach headquarters and the High Performance Powertrains (HPP) division in Brixworth, Northamptonshire, that produces Mercedes’ highly successful Formula 1 engines. The challenge, Schiemer said, is to “bring the logic and the philosophy” of F1 to street-legal performance cars.
Steve Cropley