Mercedes-AMG, the newly-formed sub-brand of the Benz world, is trumpeting its sales success and promising a fresh performance-sub-brand-within-a-sub-brand too - but perhaps of more interest here is a very, very sneaky peek at the GLE SUV.
This year, Mercedes-AMG will sell more than 40,000 units globally, with such growth driven by the expansion into smaller car segments with vehicles such as the A 45, CLA 45 and GLA 45 AMG models. So, in order to render Affalterbach's three letters more accessible, there'll be a new product line called AMG Sport. This fits in between AMG Sports (note the extra 's' here, it's important) packages for Mercedes-Benz cars (essentially styling kits and nothing more) and full-on AMG models, offering a halfway house of cars with enhanced performance and technical refinements compared to normal Benzes.
Tobias Moers, chairman of Mercedes-AMG GmbH, said of the sales numbers and models such as the SLS and Merc-AMG GT: "We are proud of these successes, as they provide the basis for the next stage of our growth strategy, which we are now launching. In the next three years, we aim to more than double our total sales for 2013."
Anything else?
Of course, SUVs are pivotal to any brand's long-term success and with the recent rebadging policy in place that has killed off M-Class/ML naming, these images appear to show our first non-camouflaged view of the forthcoming GLE, a BMW X6-rivalling sloping-backed 4x4 based on the E-Class.
The first two AMG Sport models are due to be shown at the Detroit International Auto Show in January 2015, which is where we think we'll get first sight of the GLE in the metal.