TOKYO: GRAN TURISMO 5 CAPE TOWN: SOCCER DREAM MIAMI: THE GOLF WHISPERER THE PERFORMANCE MAGAZINE FORMULA 1: ALPHA DOG 2010 SLS AMG EXPERIENCE THE FUTURE – TODAY A LANGUAGE OF SHAPES THAT WAKENS LOST MEMORIES. THE BELIEF IN ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THE AUTOMOBILE WORLD IS REINVIGORATED. IN CONTEMPLATION OF AN AUTOMOBILE BODY THAT GETS BY WITHOUT EXAGGERATION OR THREATENING GESTURES. RATHER, IT PROUDLY SHOWS ITS STRENGTHS. BEAUTIFUL AND SELF-CONFIDENT. FLUID LINES. HARD CURVES. A SPORTS CAR. NOT A WORK OF ART, BUT AN ARTFUL PROMISE EVEN AS IT JUST STANDS: THE SLS AMG CHASSIS. SLS AMG ............ PHOTO ..... RENÉ STAUD PHOTOGRAPHY ............ THE PROMINENT CHIN OF CLASSICAL CONTOUR — THE FRONT OF THE SLS AMG SHOWS ITS ANGLES. ITS SUCCESS IS NO SECRET: THE SLS AMG INTOXICATES EVERY SENSE — WITH DESIGN AND DYNAMICS. ICON OF THE PRESENT IT IS A PHENOMENON WITH ETERNAL CHARACTER FOR VISIONARIES. THE SLS AMG IS ESSENTIALLY TIMELESS AND YET IS A LIVING PIECE OF THE AVANT-GARDE. IT APPEARS TO COME DIRECTLY FROM THE FUTURE AND AT THE SAME TIME STEERS TOWARD IT – FULL OF PASSION AND DESIRE, A VEHICULAR REVELATION. ON THE ROAD TO A MODERN MYTH. FEATURE ............................. TEXT ..... JOHANNES RIEGSINGER ............................ 8 AMG has come a long way. It is now five — very slowly — understanding. Then came years since the Mercedes-AMG management the first joyful smirks. And at some point, circles got together to determine a new defi - sheer elation. nition for the AMG performance brand. AMG At the start of 2006, Mercedes-AMG would was to be more dynamic, more intriguing. get the official green light from Daimler CEO And over the last few years the world has Dr. Dieter Zetsche: the AMG super sports car come to know the products that grew out of could step into its development phase. Since this vision: AMG’s own high-revving per - this shot from the starter’s pistol in Affalter - S formance V8 — the by now nearly legendary bach, the home of AMG, the lights in the six-point-three — which enjoys the highest development offices and testing workshops prestige among AMG fans and which would have not gone out. They have pulled out all even win the renowned Engine of the Year the stops on the development expertise that Award in 2009. The sporty C 63 AMG, with AMG has gradually built up over the years. indelfingen, March 2010. The production of a shape entirely its own and a newly con - And their colleagues from the design, aero - the SLS AMG is running on all cylinders in structed chassis, revealed for the first time dynamics, safety, and crash divisions at order to satisfy international clients’ over - the dynamic direction in which AMG wanted Mercedes-Benz were also passionately on the whelming demand for the new gullwing from to develop itself. track toward the “mythical gullwing”. Mercedes-AMG. The strategic team had al - Then came the first in-house-constructed In the end, the SLS AMG is in fact a super ready decided during production planning to transmission, the AMG SPEEDSHIFT MCT sports car like the people from AMG, who look the global economic crisis in the eye op - 7-speed sports transmission in the SLS 63 practically have motor oil running through timistically: while everywhere else in the au - AMG and the new E 63 AMG, which ingen - their veins, dreamed of. And it is a sports car tomobile industry production capacities had iously combines the highest everyday com - that world has dreamed of. At once glam - been correctively lowered, the creators of the fort of a conventional automatic transmission orous and down to earth. Wholly of its time SLS AMG were convinced that sports car with the ultra-fast gearshift of a real super- and yet an automobile for eternity. Passion - fans would react to the Mercedes-Benz gull - sport manual transmission! ate, uncompromising, chiseled, aggressive, wing with delight and uninhibited buying At the same time, over the past few years demanding. And at the same time autono- power — the sufficient buffer built into pro - AMG was also able to demonstrate with the mous, well thought-out, sensual, sensitive, duction planning would also make it possible Black Series models in which uncompromis - open-minded. to meet even very high demand. ing direction the idea of sportiness could be And the legend of Mercedes-Benz? Can a This level has already been reached — right driven: From the SLK 55 AMG Black Series , young brand like AMG live up to this stand- at the start of production. And yet there is on to the CLK 63 AMG Black Series , up to the ard? no hectic pace to be seen in the SLS AMG spectacular SL 65 AMG Black Series , these Whoever puts this question to AMG head production hall. Only the best — and the best sought-after collectors ’ items have shown Volker Mornhinweg — a die-hard fan of the paid — workers from the Mercedes-Benz fac - that AMG can assemble entire automobiles brand with the star and brought up within tory in Sindelfingen, which won the coveted of unparalleled allure. earshot of the Sindelfingen factory siren — J.D. Power award for highest production qual - The preliminary finale with worldwide intro - receives a good-natured answer: “Oh, right. ity, now work on the SLS AMG production duction in 2009: the new E 63 AMG. A car The doors... It was never our goal to repeat line. A glimpse into the depths of the hall that can enthrall on the racetrack as well as the legendary 300 SL from 1958. At one and it’s soon clear why these SLS workers during day-to-day or long-distance driving. point we simply had the courage to give our have to be among the top performers: high- AMG has given this profound, immense su - super sports car these very doors that it concentration manual labor brings the SLS percar everything that a modern AMG needs carries so proudly today. The SLS AMG bows AMG into being. No robots. Only very com - to have. Extreme performance paired with respectfully toward the legend of the classic plex production steps. Manufacturing work, the highest autonomy and efficiency. Mercedes-Benz gullwing. And I remain and nothing less. Almost like the AMG en - One thing quickly became very clear to the strongly convinced that the SLS AMG will be - gine production in Affalterbach, Germany, sworn troupe that sat around a table some come a new legend. Of its own!” where the muscular dry-sump-lubricated V8 years ago: without a car to truly call its own, Just over forty years after the founding of will each be painstakingly assembled by a in the end AMG would not be able to demon - AMG in 1967, this company, having devel - single person. strate what one needs to understand AMG oped a super sports car on an entirely inde - With gullwing doors flung open, the silver performance. That ultimate AMG statement pendent basis, has never put itself at such a arrows float across the manufacturing floor was to be its own super sports car. distance from Mercedes-Benz. And yet in this — a compelling image that evokes a feeling of Beginning with a blank sheet of paper. Then mysterious way it has arrived at the very déjà vu. the uncompromising addition of everything heart of Mercedes-Benz. That is the story of The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is certainly that constitutes “performance” at AMG. the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. much more than a new gullwing from Mer - And it was precisely this idea that became cedes-Benz. The concept thought up by Mer - fixed with admirable perseverance and cedes-AMG was meant to deliver an uncom - tremendous speed among the AMG thinkers promising statement on the AMG perform - that surrounded CEO Volker Mornhinweg. ance brand. The AMG super sports car would be the From a third-party tuner that always cultivat - crown of the AMG brand strategy; the Daim - ed a special devotion to the Mercedes-Benz ler executive board would be downright sur - brand, to a fully integrated performance label prised by this idea and the exciting concept. among the Mercedes-Benz brand portfolio, Meditative faces. Many questions. And then 9 SLS AMG PRESENCE THROUGH THE PERFECT SYNTHESIS OF POWER AND ELEGANCE, CHARISMA AND CONTOUR. OBJECT OF DESIRE. FROM A TECHNICAL STANDPOINT, THE SLS AMG FEATURES AN ULTRA- MODERN ALUMINUM STRUCTURE. WITH PRONOUNCED DRIVING PERFORMANCE AND A UNIQUE CONNECTION BETWEEN AUTOMOBILE AND ASPHALT. THE BASIS FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE: AN EXTREMELY LOW CENTER OF GRAVITY. AND DRY SUMP LUBRICATION. CONTENTS ............................. AMG MAGAZINE ..... 2010 ............................ ANYONE WHO IS CURIOUS CAN DISCOVER THE FUTURE IN THE PRESENT. YOUNG SOCCER PLAYER WILLIAM’S CHILDHOOD DREAM. IN THE SHADOW OF THE WORLD CUP, THE DREAM OF HAPPINESS LEADS FROM THE TOWNSHIPS TO CAPE TOWN STADIUM. TOMORROW HAS MANY FACES. CHANGE NEEDS A SOURCE TO DRAW UPON. AT AMG, THAT SOURCE IS PASSION. AND THE DESIRE FOR PERFORMANCE. N aturally, the world of AMG has grown richer since the SLS AMG; but in princi - ple it has only become more visible; this lived and livable passion made by AMG. Because everything that one can now experience in terms of beauty and perfection in a modern gullwing — in a sense you could say condensed — has al - ways been characteristic for the performance brand from Affalterbach. The pulse, this heart of AMG, could be felt as early as 1986 in the legendary “Ham - mer,” the E Class with 5.6-liter V8 engine. Expressed in the form of 265 kW, a measure of performance that back then was still recorded in HP: 350 exactly.