It's Not Dead, It's Way Too Diluted

Is AMG dead? 

Big changes are afoot in Affalterbach, even if it's all about perspective.

The first sign that trouble was afoot was at the release of the renamed and facelifted SLC-Class recently. Out was the SLK55 AMG with its naturally-aspirated 5.5 liter V8 pumping out 415hp and almost as much torque, and in came the SLC43 with a bi-turbo 3.0 liter V6 engine with 362hp and 384lb-ft. Even more brutal is that the new GLE43 Coupe uses that same engine. It's a gigantic coupe-shaped SUV that somehow gets to be an AMG when equipped with its base engine in the US - an engine that, in a car that big, honestly should be its base engine.

Now that these marketing folks had gotten their first sweet taste of titillating buyers with AMG scribbled on the back of (and about 20 other places on) regular old Benzes, personally I think they just couldn't help themselves. Just as Cadillac has V-Sport, BMW has M-Sport, Lexus has F-Sport, and Audi has the letter S, Mercedes marketing too had crossed over to the dark side of badge-fluffing.

(AutoBlog.com)