Mercedes-AMG to design and build its own SUV

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The SUV trend that began in the 1990s has encompassed the entire auto industry, reaching to even the topmost brands. With many customers wanting such vehicles, no company can ignore the demand and now, for the first time in its 57-year history, Mercedes-AMG is also developing an SUV entirely in-house.

‘Born in Affalterbach’, the off-roader, will be built on the company’s proprietary AMG.EA electric high-performance platform. Development work has advanced quite a bit and initial test drives will begin soon though the high-performance subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz has not mentioned when it will be launched.

While this SUV will be entirely the work of Mercedes-AMG, such vehicles are not new to the company. Over 25 years ago, the specialists at the company enhanced the performance of the M-Class to become the ML 55 AMG.

Today, Mercedes‑AMG has 6 SUV model lines, with the iconic Gelandewagen G 63 being the flagship of the performance-driven off-roader lineup.

In this latest SUV project, Mercedes‑AMG is designing the entire vehicle architecture for the first time. This full-size SUV will be the second model built on the all-electric AMG.EA high-performance platform. It also represents the sixth vehicle fully developed by the performance specialists, joining the first AMG.EA model currently in testing, as well as the GT, SL, previous GT generation, and SLS models.

“SUVs have been among our most popular models for many years. With the ‘Born in Affalterbach’ SUV, we are responding to this trend by offering our customers a truly captivating high-performance off-roader based on the AMG.EA platform. Our new high-performance architecture follows a clear philosophy: ‘AMG First, EV Second.’ This means that the vehicles not only excel as electric vehicles but also embody the core AMG qualities of emotion and performance,” said Michael Schiebe, Chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes‑AMG GmbH and Head of the Mercedes‑Benz G‑Class & Mercedes‑Maybach divisions.

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