Mercedes-AMG E63 S coupe ruled out

Mercedes-AMG will not build an E63 S coupe to squeeze between the widened, hardcore C63 S and more expansive, expensive S63 AMG coupe, the company has revealed.

It was widely expected that the Affalterbach offshoot of Mercedes-Benz would take the sexy B-pillar-less design of the new E-Class coupe, then pump the guards to make a more aggressive version of the E63 S sedan that goes on-sale locally mid-year.

After all, that is exactly what the company did with the C63 S sedan to prime it for duty as one of the most sporting Mercedes-AMG models ever.

Cold water has been thrown on that idea, however, with Mercedes-Benz Australia Pacific public relations and corporate communications manager Jerry Stamoulis confirming to MOTOR what various Mercedes-AMG executives had hinted at.

“At this stage AMG have said that they won’t be building an E63 coupe,” he revealed.

The E63 S sedan will debut one of the most sophisticated all-wheel drive systems seen in a production car, complete with the ability to disengage the front driveshaft to perform long, smoky burnouts when in Race mode. It even has a Drift Mode.

While the four-door is expected to cost around $250,000 – and the five-door wagon has been ruled out for the local market – it’s a long jump for two-door enthusiasts from the 375kW/700Nm and $180K C63 S coupe, to the 430kW/900Nm and $415K S63 coupe.

Compared with its sedan sibling, the C63 S coupe is also 64mm wider at the front and 66mm broader at the rear, with a 60mm-longer aluminium bonnet. Perhaps such engineering changes were a step too far for the smaller volumes of the E-Class platform.

While there is greater chance of a Mercedes-AMG E43 coupe, Stamoulis said: “We don’t have any further information on a ‘43’ type model.”

“We think something like that would work in Australia, but there’s nothing to announce just yet,” he added.

The E-Class coupe range finally sheds its ties with the old C-Class coupe platform, becoming a larger, sexier model in the process. And more expensive. For now, the top coupe model will be the E400 4Matic coupe at $145,900 plus on-road costs – $6K more than the sedan – with a nine-speed automatic, 245kW/480Nm 3.0-litre turbo V6 and 5.4-second 0-100km/h.