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Mercedes-AMG GT R Black Series expected, but no 'Pro' for Australia

A possible Mercedes-AMG GT R Black Series has been spied as Merc Aus says no to GT R Pro

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Mercedes-Benz Australia has decided not to throw its hat into the ring for an allocation of the limited-edition AMG GT R Pro, but an even faster AMG GT R Black Series is expected to appear in 2020.

The GT R Pro is a circuit-focused version of AMG’s flagship sports car, using revised suspension settings, more aero and the new AMG Dynamics program, but according to M-B Australia customer demand wasn’t particularly high.

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“We didn’t have a huge uptake on GT R Pro,” Mercedes-Benz PR boss Jerry Stamoulis tells MOTOR. “That’s due to a couple of reasons. Based on customer feedback and what we know about our AMG customers, they’re happy with a GT R.

“The GT R is great on road and on track as well, and realistically a lot of customers who want to go that little bit harder on a racetrack, they’ll opt for a GT3 or GT4 (race car). So the [local] uptake was low for GT R Pro and with only 750 units they got snapped up pretty quickly.”

One reason that potential customers have kept their wallets tucked away for now is the long-rumoured Black Series. Mules have been spotted lapping the Nurburgring for some time but the arrival of the GT R Pro seemed to solve that riddle, but even wilder prototypes continue to pound around.

Stamoulis would neither confirm nor deny its existence but said: “A lot of our customers know our history about making something that maybe a little more powerful or dynamic or both and so they’re holding out.”

mercedes-amg-gt-r-black-series-testingAMG boss Tobias Moers went further, telling Autocar recently that the GT Black Series will be the fastest accelerating AMG ever, at least until the arrival of the F1-engine AMG One hypercar.

Concrete details are few, but sources close to Mercedes have hinted the GT Black Series will be a significant step above the regular GT range and the new 470kW/900Nm AMG GT 4-door 63 S provides an indication of the ultimate power potential of the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8.

In other GT news, the facelifted range, including GT S, GT C and GT R, is expected to land in Australia in Q3 2019.

Scott Newman
Contributor

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