Australia goes mad for Mercedes-AMG

Australia buys more AMGs as a percentage of total Mercedes-Benz sales than any other country and the nation's love affair with the brand shows no sign of abating.

David McCarthy, senior PR manager for Mercedes-Benz Australia, tells MOTOR that there are currently around 300 orders being held for the new C63, which easily accounts for the 2015 allocation.

Likewise, the wait for the new AMG GT supercar is out to around a year, with about 70 cars landing before the end of this year, though there are hopes that allocation will expand to around 100 in 2016.

The strong demand has led to a shift in car allocation, with dealers allocated cars according to the number of orders held, rather than a set number of cars.

Demand remains strong for AMG's entry-level '45' models, too, despite heavily updated models being just over the horizon.

More than 1600 45s have been sold this year, with the most popular member of the hi-po four-cylinder family being the CLA45 sedan.

All told, more than 2000 AMGs have already found homes this year, and McCarthy expects the strong results to continue with more than 3500 sales forecast by year's end.

That's almost as many cars as Skoda sold in 2014, and more than Alfa Romeo, MINI or Great Wall. It appears that when it comes to Mercedes, there is plenty of profit in performance.

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