Mercedes-AMG E63 Estate spied testing, but is it the Black Series?

Mercedes-AMG will take a leaf out of the Audi RS6 Avant’s playbook for its next E63 AMG Estate, with the next generation model of Benz’s hard-core family hauler set to grow a massive set… of wheel arches.

Spied by YouTube user WalkoART while conducting public road testing in Europe, the new E63 AMG Estate’s engorged fenders are there to accommodate a set of ultra-wide wheels wrapped in low profile rubber. Viewed from the rear, the stance is low, squat and supremely aggressive – and not too dissimilar to Audi’s famously fast RS6 wagon.

The reason for its girth comes down to its mammoth power output. A leaked Russian dealer document revealed the new E63 S will smash out a stunning 450kW of power and 850Nm of torque – enough to take it to 100km/h from rest in a supercar-like 3.5 seconds.

Those numbers will give Mercedes-AMG dominance over Audi’s RS6 Avant, which makes 445kW and 750Nm in Performance trim, and hits 100km/h in 3.7 seconds.

The “regular” E63 sedan and wagon will generate a slightly less ballistic 420kW and 750Nm, with a 0-100km/h sprint of 3.7 seconds.

All E63 variants will be exclusively all-wheel drive, meaning the rear-driven E63 S currently available in Australia will be the last of its kind.

Thanks to those sizable flares, this latest prototype is radically different to previous E63 Estate mules that have been snapped in camouflage. Those cars sported all the usual ’63 hallmarks – twin bonnet strakes, big brakes and a quartet of rectangular tailpipes, but side metal remained untouched – to the extent that Mercedes didn’t even bother applying camo to those panels.

The flares and big wheels are new then, but is it the rumoured E63 Black Series that has car forums buzzing?

That’s highly unlikely. AMG has never made a Black Series with more than four doors, and it appears that policy is unlikely to change. Beyond that, Black Series models are only released in the latter half of a model’s life cycle – the appearance of an E63 Black Series prototype would be highly unusual given the E63 production car has yet to drop.

Rather, it looks like this will be what the regular E63 Estate will look like.

An alternative theory is that AMG engineers are simply playing around with wheel and tyre sizing and tacked on a set of crude arches to accommodate the bigger rubber. The end result looks cool, but whether the production car will sport a similar stuck-on look or feature more smoothly-integrated flares remains to be seen.

We won’t have long to find out, though. The E63 sedan is slated for a Paris Motor Show debut at start of October, with the Estate expected to make its first appearance not long after. Both are expected to go on sale locally next year.