Your accomplice for that boardroom coup!

About five years ago, we were amongst a bunch of Indian motoring journalists who were salivating over the row of Mercedes-AMG cars that had been lined up for our test drives around the sleepy town of Affalterbach, near Stuttgart in Germany. We were querying AMG’s top management about when these cars might make it to India.

Cut to date and there are already eight AMGs on offer in Mercedes-Benz India’s portfolio, with the prospect of at least two more joining the list later this year.

Last week even as Mercedes-Benz announced that the C63 AMG would be launched here in the first week of September, we were sitting comfy in the wide leather seats of the S63 Coupé trying to tame the 585 horses under its bonnet.

Mercedes-Benz has been talking about the S-Class Coupé right from when the new generation of the flagship saloon was unveiled. The S63 Coupé just takes the package to a whole different level of performance and craftsmanship. Mercedes’ extensive experience in developing coupés and shooting brakes shows in the S63 AMG. Its striking profile with the sharp sloping roofline and stubby boot gives it great road presence. With the signature Merc design elements in place at the front, the S63 AMG seems familiar, but is very distinctive.

At first glance it seems fairly small for a flagship Coupé. Don’t be deceived by its design, it is more than five metres long and has a wheelbase of nearly three metres. Just in case you missed seeing the power bulge in the bonnet, the carbon-fibre fins in the huge airdam, the Swarowski crystals in the headlamp and the dual twin exhausts at the rear, Merc designers have made sure that the S63 Coupé’s AMG treatment is clearly identified by liberally using its logo around the car. AMG Alloys, red brake callipers and a proud declaration that this one houses the top-of-the-line V8 biturbo are the other elements that identify its special status.

The other thing that AMG designers decided to go to town with is carbon-fibre. The airdam fins, door mirror housings, the exhaust treatment and more inside the cabin have all been fashioned out of carbon-fibre. Looked at from any angle, there is no doubt that the AMG S63 Coupé is a driver-oriented car. Swing open the large wide-opening door and there is more evidence of this in the cabin.

If there is one car in the luxury that felt opulent, super-luxurious, this would be the one. The cabin is so fragrant with the aroma of soft leather, that it is intoxicating. Wide, padded and wrapped in perforated soft leather, the seats are so comfy you wouldn’t want to get up. The dashboard features a simple, straight layering concept that features matt-finish dark grey leather at the top to prevent windscreen glare. Then there is a layer of carbon fibre and the next was the sea of saddle brown leather (in our test mule).

The rest of the hardware is very similar to the other Merc cars in terms of layout and functionality. And that includes the touch-pad COMAND controller (interface and screen). Driver-orientation of the AMG S63 Coupé is evident also from the dynamic seat settings, which electrically curves the side bolsters to hug you every time you take a turn and the multi-function AMG steering wheel. Stuck in traffic and bored, no problem, just turn on the massage function.

The S63 Coupé is offered with AMG’s famous 5.5-litre, V8 Biturbo petrol engine. This 5,461cc generates 585hp of peak power and 900Nm of torque, most of which is available right past the engine idling rpm mark. Force fed by the twin turbos, the engine delivers immediate, linear acceleration that is capable of taking this two-tonne behemoth from 0 to 100 kmph in 4.2 seconds. AMG’s Speedshift MCT 7-Speed sports transmission is paired to the engine. Shift times are ultra-quick and the automatic exhaust flaps in the AMG sports exhaust makes sure there is a pleasant rumble every time you shift gears manually. That is one addictive exhaust note and it is the only bit of noise that seeps into the otherwise super quiet cabin.

Active body control is part of the package and in addition to the choice of pre-settings, the AMG sports suspension based on Magic Body Control can potentially adjust the settings based on the car’s systems assessing the condition of the road ahead.

The new Mercedes-AMG S63 Coupé is a classy addition to the line up that the brand already has in India. The car’s extreme driver orientation is probably its only down-side. But, the age-profile of buyers in India too is gradually going down. Internationally young buyers are looking for sporty coupés and this car has the right ingredients to woo that class of buyer.

There is a lot of novelty and value to be had in the AMG S63 Coupé with its optional Magic Sky Control panoramic sunroof, which automatically darkens or becomes transparent at the touch of a button, the full complement of safety features, the 24-speaker Burmester music system and its fancy LED intelligent headlamps.

But priced at ₹2.6 crore (ex-showroom, Delhi), the AMG S63 Coupé gets really close to many other super performance cars. But, that cabin, the V8 under the bonnet and the promise of AMG performance are big draws for buyers.

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