AMG confirms Porsche 911 rival

AMG SLS (seen here) will be joined by a second AMG sportster aimed squarely at the Porsche 911.

AMG SLS (seen here) will be joined by a second AMG sportster aimed squarely at the Porsche 911.

Published Oct 5, 2011

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AMG is developing a second two-seater model - not quite as exclusive or as expensive as the SLS - to take on the iconic Porsche 911.

Development director Christoph Jung told Auto Express that the gullwing SLS had been such a success, with 5000 sold since 2009 at prices starting from €195 000 (R2.1 million), that it had led to a roadster model and convinced Stuttgart's bean-counters that there was a market for a second AMG model.

This would help establish the brand as a sports-car maker in its own right, he said.

"It is important to work on our brand and grow it," he said. "Look at the Porsche 911 - it is a huge success. They have done a very good job in evolving it over the years. Now, thanks to the SLS, companies such as Porsche see AMG as competition. Everyone recognises that AMG can produce super sports cars."

Although the development of AMG's 911 rival is still in the early stages, some elements are already cast in stone. It will definitely have only two seats ("otherwise it will be too heavy") and its V8 engine will be in the front.

Jung said: "It has to be a V8. We have heritage and customers expect it."

That V8 is likely to be a tweaked version of AMG's 5.5-litre twin-turbo developing about 375kW and driving the rear wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. Jung is targeting a 0-100 time of four seconds and a top speed of 300km/h.

He explained: "We have to have performance figures close to competitors, but we need much more - we need it to sound right and go right.

"It can't just be the most powerful. It has to have the whole package."

Jung said the car would be introduced as a coupé, with a roadster as a later possibility.

AMG is, of course, not the only sports-car maker targeting the 911; Jung said he'd taken a long, hard look at Jaguar's C-X16 concept at the recent Frankfurt motor show, but that he thought its projected starting price of €60 000 (R650 000) was "very ambitious".

Nevertheless, he admitted that to be viable the new SLS would have to start at an even more ambitions €80 000 (R865 000).

Don't expect to see a world launch before late 2014.

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