AMG formally known as Mercedes-AMG GmbH, is the high performance division of Mercedes-Benz. AMG independently designs, engineers, manufactures and customizes Mercedes-Benz vehicles.
The A in AMG stands for Aufrecht from the name Hans Werner Aufrecht and M stands for Melcher from the name Erhard Melcher, two of the founding fathers of AMG, while G stands for Großaspach, Aufrecht’s birth place. The story begins in the 1960s when two engineers Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher were working on the 300 SE racing engine in the Daimler-Benz Development department – until the company discontinued all motorsports activities.
In Aufrecht’s house in Grossaspach, they spent their after-work hours honing the performance of the engine. In 1965, Manfred Schiek, a colleague at Daimler, went to the start in the German Touring Car Championship with the 300 SE engine that had been developed by Aufrecht and Melcher – and won ten times! Schiek’s triumph was based on the reputation of Aufrecht and Melcher as experts for optimizing the performance of Mercedes-Benz vehicles.
Racing wasn’t just enough, Aufrecht’s vision was to offer road vehicles modeled after the successful racing car. In late 1966, he left Mercedes-Benz and persuaded Melcher to venture into a shared business with him. In 1967, they founded the “Aufrecht Melcher Großaspach Ingenieurbüro, Konstruktion und Versuch zur Entwicklung von Rennmotoren” (“Aufrecht Melcher Großaspach engineering firm, design and testing for the development of racing engines”). The headquarters was a former mill in the next town over, Burgstall and soon enough, the revamped engines became a must have for private racing teams.
The first racing milestone was achieved in 1971 during the 24 Hours of Spa, which went down in the annals of the company: the AMG Mercedes 300 SEL 6.8 was the champion in its class and won second place overall. A heavy luxury sedan racing ahead of competing lighter race cars caused a sensation and the rest is history…
Their current portfolio includes the Mercedes-AMG GT cars, the A 45 AMG, the S 63 AMG etc.
