Mercedes flexes AMG muscle

Mercedes-Benz has hosted the largest and most expensive AMG customer event ever seen in Australia this week, when about 300 current and prospective owners, 150 staff, 50 dealers, 90 cars and 20 media representatives descended on Bathurst's famed Mount Panorama for the five-day 2015 AMG Challenge.

Held as part of the 2015 Festival of AMG, which included similar events at Albert Park, Phillip Island and Queenstown, the occasion also doubled as the Australian launch of the new Mercedes-AMG GT S super-coupe and C 63 S and sports sedan.

It follows a similar inaugural event at Mount Panorama seven years ago in 2008, when Mercedes launched the outgoing C 63 AMG, but eclipses that week-long, 200-customer event in every respect.

Mercedes-Benz will not say exactly how much it spent on its most ambitious Australian AMG customer event to date, but admits the figure was well over a million dollars and that the 63 cars employed on-track – including 12 GTs and 30 C 63s – were valued at $13.5 million.

The invitation-only event was open to prospective customers and members of the AMG Club (anyone who's purchased a new AMG in the past three years), each of whom paid $3500 for the privilege.

That bought them a Virgin charter flight from Sydney, trackside welcome dinner with laser light-show and accommodation at Bathurst Rydges Hotel, and a full day of track driving on "one of the world's most challenging racetracks in some of the world's most powerful cars".

Apart from the largest number of cars ever assembled by the Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy in Australia – and one of the largest in the world, including Europe, China and the US – the event also hosted 'friends of the brand' including Australia's five-times motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan and celebrity chef Shane Delia.

Also present were Virgin Australia CEO John Borghetti, who backed the airline's charter transfer of guests to the event, and F1, DTM and GT racing legend Bernd Schneider.

Prizes for nightly auctions held to benefit Mercedes' official charity Brainwave, which supports children with neurological conditions, included 250,000 Velocity points, dinner for two hosted by Delia and hot laps with Schneider.

Along with paying for more instructors than (72) customers on each day – ensuring every participant was accompanied by a professional racer/instructor – the German brand transformed two pit garages into a luxury hospitality area with heating, artworks, sofas, tables, lamps, designer floor rugs, cloak room, espresso bar and Mount Panorama's first Virgin check-in desk.

Led by Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy chief instructor Peter Hackett and 2011 Bathurst 1000 winner Nick Percat, drivers were taken through a series of tailored driving exercises before being let loose in the GT and C 63 in the afternoon.

Morning sessions included high-speed runs on Conrod Straight and The Chase in the GT, trail-braking into Griffins Bend and The Cutting in C 63s, tight cornering down through The Dipper and Forrest's Elbow and back up in reverse in the A 45 and CLA 45, and main straight drag races in E, CLS, and SL 63s – all held in near-freezing, damp conditions.

Mercedes says the event was "heavily subsidised", meaning the total cost of seven days' track hire, accommodation, catering, staff, vehicles and logistics far exceeded the circa-$1 million in revenue.

However, the largest single AMG spend by Mercedes-Benz Australia, which is on track to sell well over 30,000 passenger cars for the first time this year, follows a continued boom in AMG sales, which are neck and neck with Porsche for the first time this year and, per capita, remain stronger than in any other country.

Asked if the company expected to sell cars at the event, Mercedes-Benz sales boss Brad Kelly said: "We don't directly link the two. There's definitely no quota.

"Of course it's a great opportunity for customers to experience new cars from our brand, like the GT and C 63, and if we sell more of them as a result then that's a bonus."

Mercedes-Benz public relations chief David McCarthy said the success of this year's event could see it become a fourth annual AMG Challenge fixture alongside Albert Park, Phillip Island and Queenstown – and the three pointed star's continued support of October's Motorclassica in Melbourne, which appears likely to remain the Australian industry's only annual new-car motor show.

"Of course it depends on track bookings and the timing also needs to work," said McCarthy, adding that the local arrival of not only AMG's new flagship supercar, the GT, but its traditional best-seller, the C 63, was the impetus for this year's event.

With AMG versions of Mercedes' upgraded A-, CLA and GLA-Class, the new C-Class Coupe, new E-Class and new SLC – not to mention the GLC and GLE SUVs – all due from next year, future AMG Challenge events at Bathurst appear almost certain.

Related reading:
>> Mercedes-AMG C 63 S 2015 Review
>> Mercedes-AMG GT S 2015 Review
>>