AMG closing in on Porsche and HSV

A horsepower brand battle is underway, as Mercedes-Benz’s performance division AMG heads for a massive new sales record in Australia and zeroes in on German rival Porsche and local hero Holden Special Vehicles.

To the end of July, courtesy of a boom reception for the A 45 and CLA 45 compacts, 1547 AMGs had rolled out of dealerships. That’s only 102 cars short of AMG's full-year record set in 2013, when 1649 were sold.

To the same point this year, the Commodore V8 tuner had sold 1621 cars, while 1565 Porsches have been registered – itself a boom figure 50 per cent up on 2013.

“The market for true performance cars has never been stronger,” Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific's Senior Manager of Public Relations, Product and Corporate Communications, David McCarthy, told carsales.com.au.

"We are closing in on Porsche pretty quick -- they like AMG are a pure performance brand and I hope they have a clear view of the AMG-powered three-pointed star that's closing fast.

“While HSV is a very different proposition to AMG they have also had a ripper year,” he added.

“They have a current lead of less than 100 units. The deliveries we expect by year end are going to make it a V8-powered race to the finish with them. We will pass our record of last year by the end of this month.

“The competition is fierce and if we do pull ahead by year end then I’d say it’s the first time we will have beaten them in a full year. I know it’s gotten close a few times but definitely we have a bit of a race on at the moment”

AMG’s spectacular rise has been driven by sales of the sub-$100,000 four-cylinder compact models, which are running at about 60 per cent of volume.

“The brand is very well established and Australians love rear-wheel drive V8s, but also what we are doing is playing in that under 100K mark where we haven’t played before,” McCarthy said.

The popularity of the compacts has made adequate supply an issue for Benz, but more cars have been obtained from the factory and customer waiting times cut by up to nine months.

Caught out by a much higher demand than forecast for the compact models, Mercedes-Benz A/P boss Horst van Sanden was conscious enough of the length of the AMG waiting list to write a letter to 500 customers and offer them each an iPad as an apology.

“There shouldn’t be anyone who is going beyond the middle of next year,” McCarthy said. “There might be the odd one here and there but we have bought it (the waiting list for compacts) back fully six to nine months.”

Benz is forecasting a final AMG sales tally for 2014 beyond 2000 cars. In the second half of this year sales will be aided by the arrival of the GLA 45 AMG compact SUV, for which there are already orders, but hindered by the discontinuation of the popular V8 rear-wheel drive C 63 sedan and estate, leaving only the C 63 coupe on sale for the now.

The new twin-turbo W205 C 63 AMG sedan doesn’t arrive in Australia until 2015.

“We just have coupe and you are probably only talking another 100 this year and 200 next year,” McCarthy said.