In the high-end, explosive-horsepower genre of German cars, AMG has always been the ber daddy. BMW's and Audi's factory tuners were downright adorable facing down one of Merc's boys' supercharged autobahn sleds. Now, BMW's M and Audi's RS divisions' newest V8- and V10-powered models are narrowing the gap with AMG's hand-signed rides, and even Cadillac has entered the 500-horsepower game with malice aforethought. AutoWeek Sat down with AMG boss Volker Mornhinweg to get an insider's view of how AMG plans to meet such challenges. For one, the era of supercharging is over, turbocharging will become the shop's boost technology of choice (as seen in its 6.0-liter V12 turbo), and a two-clutch manumatic box might one day see daylight. As for possible AMG hybrids, the following quote pretty much answers that, and any other questions about AMG's intentions. "If one day it becomes fashionable to silently drive up to a hip location in California with electric power, we will have to play a role there, too." Wow, we haven't had that spirit here since 1969.
Mercedes-AMG Chairman Volker Mornhinweg plans to meet competitors head-on. [AutoWeek]
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