Mercedes-AMG Promises to Never Ruin Black Series With SUVs

While black edition vehicles have become all the rage of late, there’s only one lineup that you really need to care about — and that’s the Mercedes-AMG Black Series. Despite the name, Black Series models have very little to do with color. They’re all about the brand’s Performance Studio in Affalterbach savagely goosing a standard AMG coupe, resulting in a vehicle operating on the outer limits of what’s theoretically possible without getting NASA involved.

However, the lesser go-fast AMG models are getting mighty common these days. Mercedes-Benz recently decided to attach the AMG badge to practically every model that isn’t a hybrid and a lot of them seem unnecessary. The V6-powered Mercedes GLE43 and C43 may be stellar driving machines, but did the brand really need to call them AMG’s when they aren’t top-trim performance models? This has created some concern that the no-compromise Black Series could become watered down as Daimler allows the nameplate to ooze onto undeserving models.

Thankfully, Germany says those fears are unfounded. AMG Black Series models will only ever be tuned-up, limited-edition coupes — even though the brand once affixed the Black Series name to a high-performance cigarette boat.

Speaking to AutoGuide during the 2018 New York International Auto Show, AMG director Tobias Moers confirmed that the mere suggestion of a Black Series SUV would be utterly ridiculous. “No, no, no, no… never,” Moers chuckled during the interview. “Black Series is for the racetrack.”

For those of you not counting, that was four neins and a never. But if AMG Black isn’t going to build SUVs and has already confirmed it is going to bail on designing another C63 coupe, what exactly will be its next vehicle?

“Black Series is dedicated to two-door cars,” Moers said. “And you know with GT lineup, there’s no sense of a C-Class Coupe Black Series.”

That really only leaves the AMG S65 and the GT Coupes. But the S65 seems incredibly unlikely if it’s to be the fastest Mercedes on a racetrack. AMG would need need to lighten the car quite a bit and push its engine to scary levels of performance, which would result in an astronomical price tag. The S65 already costs around $240,000; a Black Series version doesn’t make a lot of sense. But AMG could massage a bit more power from the GT R’s 4.0-liter biturbo, tweak the suspension, lighten it, and keep the whole package under a quarter million bucks.

When questioned about the GT Coupe’s future, Moers was noncommittal. “GT S Roadster is coming to the market now, and you know, we have in the past something called Black Series, so let’s wait and see,” the AMG boss said.

We’re under the assumption that Daimler probably doesn’t want anything stealing the convertible coupe’s thunder while it’s the hot ticket item, and Moers knows better than to sabotage the company by breaking news of a Black Series GT in an untimely manner. That doesn’t guarantee the model is forthcoming but AMG is working on something of the black variety and it almost has to be GT-related. If Daimler can build a Black Series SLS, it could definitely do the same for the GT Coupe.

[Image: Daimler]