Very few keen drivers would mourn the passing of Mercedes’ SLC (née SLK), and if the firm’s AMG-engineered successor (scooped here) doesn’t appeal to quite the same customer base, you suspect few in Stuttgart will lose any sleep over it.
In pictures: the best of Mercedes-AMG
So it just remains to be seen which way the firm will jump from a technical standpoint. Typically, unless another use for a dedicated mid-engined platform can be found, a front-engined car of one sort or another (either a downsized SL or an Audi-Audi TT-style front transverse-engined execution) is much more likely. But if a mid-engined solution is more attractive to the GT4 motorsport fraternity, perhaps it might have legs, especially since it’d lend AMG the sporting credibility it’d need to steal Porsche’s lunch in the Cayman’s segment — something AMG boss Tobias Moers would no doubt dearly love to do.
Mercedes-AMG eyes up Porsche Cayman rival
Whatever the company decides, it should be warned against focusing obsessively on track performance with insufficient regard for what makes the likes of the Alpine A110 great: compactness, simplicity and a sense of driver reward that’s every bit as accessible and vivid on the road as it is on the circuit.
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Give Mercedes some Credit
Unlikely Mercedes will try and build a 'Porsche', and as others have said, that's not the demographic of the SLK/SLC buyer. Journalists seem fixated on believing all manufacturers have to copy or better Porsche when designing sports cars, when in reality I doubt they think anything of the sort.
Person
A lot of people like cars with personality. But this effort to copy, and perhaps marginally improve on whatever products the competition is having a bit of success with, is leaching the personality out of new cars.
What we’re increasingly getting is “buy this because it’s 1.25% better than that”, rather than “buy this if you like it. It’s really nice.”
Just try to make cars that appeal in their own right instead of trying to nick sales from areas other makers are already good at. In other words, stop being so boring. Please.
I mourn the dats when MB used to be good at being more than just an accounting exercise.
Not sure AMG would understand
Not sure AMG would understand the Alpine at all. They are probably best sticking to what they are good at - front-engined bruisers.