jrcart

I would love to be able to post this over on the PL but since I am on vacation over there maybe someone else can.

Porsche's VP of global sales just announced they are no longer interested in the entry level market. Specifically rejecting reports Porsche was readying an SUV smaller than its current entry level Macan, von Platen said: “We are an exclusive sports car manufacturer. We have nothing to gain by creating a cheaper Porsche in the future. It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality in what we do.”

Too bad AMG has taken the low road by deviating from their roots by offering garbage models such as the C43 and SLC43. Maybe if AMG would have stayed focused the GT-S launch would not have been such a disaster.

http://www.motoring.com.au/porsche-n...models-104696/

Sanch

I agree they've diluted the brand....

They should've kept them as c450's etc and not made them into a C43 AMG

rsalco

Opinions are wonderful things; everybody's got one. Statistics on the other hand....


Porsche 2015 sales: 51,756
MB 2015 sales: 1,871,511


I'm pretty confident MB does not share your opinion. But feel free to buy a Porsche if it helps you feel more exclusive.

Td33

Read the same article and had to laugh. So true mb/AMG will put a badge on anything with four wheels. In a few years they destroyed the AMG brand that took numerous years to build.

Just read a post where the badges had fallen off a GTS. They should be very proud of what they created.

Keep up the good work MB/AMG

rsalco

Yeah, they "fell off" mine too. But it took 10 minutes with a heat gun and plastic scraper to get them to do so.


A few internet anecdotal defect claims out of 1.8MM+ cars vs. 100% engine defect rate for a halo car from a mfr. that managed to sell slightly more than 50,000 units in total.


And your point is..?


Every car mfr. experiences "defects" - that's why God invented warranties.

Td33

Like I said keep up the good work MB/AMG

jrcart

Let me know when AMG builds a car that can compete with the perfomance a Turbo S, GT3 RS or 918 Spyder.....case closed!!!

jrcart

My "opinion" is actually based on facts and my "opinion" is actually shared by some AMG and MBUSA employees. You see when you build and own the fastest AMG in the world and own some of the rarest AMG's ever built people from AMG reach out to you, you exchange phone numbers and e-mail addresses, you chat, you text message, you hang out with them at events, auto shows and races, you go out to dinners with them and they open up and talk candidly about a number of subjects. When AMG engineers and management open up and tell you the GT-S launch was a disaster(and that's a quote) because of an unrealistic deadline/launch date I would tend to believe their opinion over yours

AMG 17GT

Despite me bringing it up several times with you,you still have never acknowledged ALL the gt3 engines 2015 grenading and being replaced. A 2016 just blew up this week. Yet you get on here and praise them. What gives with you?

amgfan1

Good morning JRCART,

Thanks for posting this article. It is another validation of AMG being diluted. What has happened with AMG is truly sad. We've been a Mercedes Benz owner and I fell in love with AMG when it was purchased by Mercedes Benz, and M-Benz had a controlling interest back in 1999 and became sole owner in 2005.

PORSCHE has more sophisticated models under development and testing. I am sure the PORSCHE fans know they are going to race their new mid-engine 911 RSR. It is prelude to bigger and better things to come for PORSCHE. I do know they are testing the Flat-8 that they intend to make as a mid-engine above the GT3RS and below the 918 Spyder. It was purposely built to compete head-to-head with Lamborghini and Ferrari. Good times ahead.

Lastly today I am bringing home my new GT4 to add to my collection.

Drive safe,
amgfan1 (PORSCHE Lover)

JSwan724

amgfan1 (PORSCHE Lover

So is this your good by post?

You need to be hanging out over on the Porsche site with your new Buds.

amgfan1

Nah, I kind like to hang around and check what else is being diluted by AMG around here.

Let me understand your English. Did you mean good bye? Or good by (as in another car you mean PORSCHE), or what?

Anyway enjoy your stunning GT-S. How is the trade-in value of your GT-S, is it looking good? I am sure you are very ecstatic about your AMG GT-S toy.

In the mean time let me switch over to PORSCHE website and talk with more sense over there. I wanna hang out with "DA TOYZ 4 DA BIG BOYZ." Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

Drive safe,
amgfan1 (PORSCHE lover)

RobbieRob

That GT3 that blew up was a 15' and had over 6000 track only miles, lets see how many AMG GT's have close to that many track miles. I agree with you that the GT3's have issues, but 99%of those issues are from people's cars that track them all the time. I'm sorry, but any engine that revs at 9000 rpm for that long on a track will fail eventually if not maintained or freshened up accordingly. The difference between the Porsche owners and the AMG owners is that a large percentage of Porsche owners actually track their cars and track them hard(some never see the street). Amg owners typically run 1/2 mile events more so than track them, hence the reason there is only one post about tracking the car on this forum(Porsche forum is loaded with tracking topics). AMG has lost a lot of longtime buyers do to marketing and branding, AMG's are all over the place now and the exclusiveness of owning one is almost gone(all other models) , with the exception of the GT's.

Td33

Over 6000 track miles on a production street car. Very impressive for sure and I'll bet the badges even stayed on!

jrcart

Lol

RobbieRob

LOL, I know, Porsche uses stronger adhesive. And people wonder why GT3 engines have problems, they are all tracked and driven hard. Pretty impressive that there aren't actually more engine failures when you think that on the track they are between 6000 and 9000 rpm the whole time.

jrcart

I agree with most of your points, all very good points. I would guess that not as many people track(road course) their AMG's simply because AMG has not produced very many truly track worthy vehicles. I tracked the hell out of my CLK BS, C63 BS and SLS BS, those were really the first AMG's that were built for any serious track duty(along with the CLK DTM and CLK GTR) and in stock form the M156/M159 powered AMG's had all sorts of cooling related issues when pushed hard on a track. I had to address and make cooling modifications to both my CLK BS and C63 BS in order to make them truly track ready. I am definitely in the minority when it comes to tracking my cars, most people that bought any of the super rare Black Series didn't have the ***** to put them on the track. I racked up thousands of trouble free track miles between all three of my Black Series. That is part of the reason I hate on the AMG GT's so much, I hardly tracked my GT-S and had a ton of problems with it. It was my least modified AMG and had tons of problems with it. My GT-S did not live up to the reputation and standards I had grown to expect from my other AMG's over the years and for that reason I now have a bad taste in my mouth. AMG defenders like to come on here and attack my opinions and real life experiences, they like to attack me for thinking that AMG losing it's focus on pure performance and becoming a marketing entity rather than a pure engineering entity might have something to do with all the quality problems we have seen with the GT. I have said it a zillion times before and I will say it again, the AMG GT-S is an amazing car, I was as quick around my local track with it as I was my SLS BS in stock form and felt more comfortable and planted while doing it, when it was not in the shop it was an amazing car. That being said I did not find it reliable enough for what I do and what I expect. The GT might be reliable enough for some of these guys that drive it 10 miles a day to and from the office but it's not a reliable track/performance car. Maybe AMG addressed the issues, I hope they have. I will be waiting to see some real world results from the GT-R. Until then I stand by my opinion which is based on my experiences that the GT is an unreliable POS.

C280 Sport

I have said it before and I will say it again. AMG is not what it use to be. As much as I love my CLK55 AMG I would of never purchased it brand new. Not worth the asking price when a CLK550 or CLK500 is almost the same except for performance. I do not understand why do we need a AMG model for everything? GLA AMG, C AMG, E AMG, CLA AMG, G AMG, A AMG, B AMG, CL AMG, S AMG, SL AMG, AMG GT, AMG GTR, GL AMG, GLS AMG, GLC AMG, SLK/SLC AMG, CLS AMG. Good Lord we have just about AMG'ed almost everything out there making it nothing more then a modification company for Mercedes.

AMG 17GT

They replaced all 2015 engines correct??

What Porsche executives "got" was some *** whipping as those engines turned any profit they might have made on those cars into a loss.

amgfan1

You Gentlemen obviously KNOW VERY WELL what you are talking about.

Couldn't be said any better by JRCART who owns the fastest and coolest AMG by an individual private owner.

To RobbieRob, you are a true car enthusiasts.

Drive safe,
amgfan1 (PORSCHE Lover)

rsalco

Wow, just wow... You guys are pieces of work.


FWIW to any of you, my C6Z06 track car [now sold] had 6000 miles on it with zero failure events. But I'm sure you'd claim that's just a GM plastic POS.


Carry on sailors...

emericr

Selling regular MBs in the millions and selling AMGs (not just badged ones like the C43) should not be mutually exclusive and can co-exist.
I agree with Jr that Porsche is making the right call and as long as they are profitable doing it, their philosophy will work. MB should do the same with the AMG brand.
However I do believe that the GT-S is a GT3-RS competitor (a bit slower) and the GT-R will be a better weapon for a lot less $$$.

RobbieRob

woah woah there, don't put words into my mouth. I'm a long time ex Corvette owner, not one bad thing to say about them. I think they did a fantastic job on the C7's, definitely hard pressed to find a better bang for the buck performance car out there.
That's pretty impressive with the mileage of your C6 track car, were they all track miles? Just asking because that GT3 that blew up was over 6000 track only miles, so between 6000 and 9000 rpms its whole life(obviously not with pits, tire warming laps,etc), I think that is pretty impressive as well.


And I'm commenting on the AMG brand(I own one), not the AMG GT's, didn't say anything negative about the car.

jrcart

I think you are missing the point here....and I have nothing bad to say about Corvettes, they are amazing cars and several of my friends own them. I look at Corvette as entirely separate brand than the rest of Chevrolet, sort of like AMG is(or was) as separate division of MB. Corvette has their own design teams, their own engineering teams, their own manufacturing facility. Chevrolet actually understands the whole "Exclusivity" thing. I remember for many years Chevrolet would not pair a 5.7 IROC Z28 with a manual transmission because they knew it would blur the lines between a Camaro which could be spec'd with a V6 engine and their flagship model Corvette. Chevroley went out of their way to make sure the Vette was the fastest, highest performing model in their line-up. Obviously GM uses the LS motor in a lot of different models these days in varying states of tune and Cadillac V is right up their nipping at the heels of Corvette in terms of performance but I guarantee you will never see Chevrolet brand any other vehicle with those crossed checkered flag badges or the Corvette name. AMG throws around it's badges like dollar bills in a cheap strip club these days, it's a disgrace for those of us who didn't just jump on the AMG bandwagon last year like so many of you that sit here and defend the AMG name and their poor decision making process as of late. Pick up a car magazine, flip on the TV to a motorsports show, find a automotive You Tube Channel and all the editors are questioning AMG. Many "experts" are saying they are diluting the brand. You can tout all the sales figures you want and I will come right back at you with facts such as JD Powers surveys that have shown MB on a steady decline on customer satisfaction and quality. Maybe its a coincidence that their quality is dropping as quickly as their sales volume numbers are rising...or maybe not.

amgfan1

Not sure which decade AMG can make models to compete with those models you mentioned (e.g., Turbo S, GT3RS, 918 Spyder). The AMG GT lineup are all turbo but none of them so far can compete with the PORSCHE Turbo S. AMG doesn't make any Naturally Aspirated cars as of late so no direct competition for the GT3RS or even the slightly one step lower GT3. Maybe, just maybe this hyped up GT-R might make it interesting, maybe.

Now as for the 918 Spyder, well that's left for the "Big Boys" arena, Hyper Car. AMG is so focused on making cheaper and diluted models such as AMG C43, E43, etc., so competing to the highest level of Hyper Car I think is a far fetched idea for now. Talk about the 918 Spyder, has anyone viewed the latest and long awaited Head-To-Head competition of the top three Hyper Cars of:
1.) Ferrari LaFerrari
2.) McLaren P1
3.) 918 Spyder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxFbGnE6v7s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6Xo7o1Ff1E

Please watch and see who was the winner. It's a surprise. AMG, when will you come back and impress us again? :roll eyes:

Drive safe,
amgfan1 (PORSCHE Lover)