BMW has been enjoying increasing success on the US market as in August it beat Toyota’s Lexus brand sales for the third month in a row. This makes for some very stiff
among the luxury German brands as Mercedes also has a strong foothold and Audi looks to try and develop a plan that will increase its brand presence in the US. While Volkswagen might be looking to be the number one manufacturer in the world, any possibility in becoming a number premium brand car maker will fall on the shoulders of Audi and the recently acquired Porsche.
It’s not all bad news though, for Audi as incredible sales have been registered in China. Alongside Mercedes-Benz, the two brands shared significant slices of the market and enjoyed record sales. Audi sales this year are up 63 percent and Mercedes’ are up 129 percent, although the latter still trails Audi in terms of numbers, selling 13,400 units in August to Audi’s 22,350.
Aside from the numbers, we can see some very impressive brand appeal for Audi in China as that market will actually out-sell Germany before long. It’s an achievement that Audi doesn’t seem to be able to replicate in the US with the premium brand club in North America ruled by BMW and Audi sales up by 14 percent this year. More after the jump.
It’s a shame that infomercial pitchman Billy Mays passed away just as Mercedes-Benz is launching the performance version of the , because he would have done an excellent job of touting the many uses for the
new and improved 2010 E63 AMG. “The 518-hp V-8,” Mays would say in his booming voice, “rockets you from 0 to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds, making quick work of sports cars with less than half the seating. And you can still use it every day to pick Junior up from school and drop Grandma off at the library.” Not that the E63 is the sort of car that would be hawked via cable-TV ads, but it does promise a “You won’t believe your eyes!” combination of performance and usability. There are no easy payments, however, despite the fact that when the E63 goes on sale in October, pricing should fall below that of its predecessor. Expect to pay just under $88,000 to start.
Highly Evolved from the Standard E-class Previous E-class AMGs merely had stiffened versions of the standard suspension, but like its little brother, the
, the new E63 gets a seriously reworked suspension compared with that of the standard car on which it’s based. The 2010 version gets an entirely new front axle with a 2.2-inch-wider track. Spring rates are twice as stiff as the regular car’s, necessitating a change from air springs to conventional coils. Load-leveling air springs remain at the rear. In addition, the anti-roll bars and the subframe bushings have been beefed up. And if the standard E63 is too soft for you, a Performance package stiffens up the front anti-roll bar and the tuning on the standard adaptive dampers, adds lightweight 19-inch forged alloy wheels, and raises the electronically governed top speed from 155 mph to 186. With both the 18- and 19-inch wheels, the tire width is 255 in front and 285 in the rear. The steering ratio, at 14.0:1, is 22 percent quicker than in the regular E-class and uses a direct, rather than variable, rack.
Under the hood is the venerable 32-valve 6.2-liter V-8 (the 63 in the car’s name and the 6.3 badges on its front fenders pay homage to an older engine with a true 6.3-liter displacement). Here it makes 518 hp, an increase of 11 over the old E63, mostly due to a freer-flowing exhaust. Torque remains the same at 465 lb-ft. New to this car is a clutch-activated (no, there’s no clutch pedal, but we’ll get to that part in a sec) alternator, which allows the engine to charge the electrical system only during coasting to save on fuel. Overall, the E63 is 12 percent more efficient in the European combined fuel-economy cycle.
The engine is paired to a seven-speed automatic, but it’s coupled to the engine via a wet-plate clutch instead of a traditional torque converter. First seen on the
, this arrangement allows for a more direct connection between the engine and gears and results in quicker shift response. As in the SL63, there are multiple settings: C (for “controlled efficiency”), sport, sport plus, manual, and race mode launch control.
Controlled efficiency mode (can’t we just call it comfort?) starts from a stop in second gear and acts much like a regular automatic, choosing the highest ratio whenever possible. Sport mode is slightly more aggressive and shifts with a little more force. We like sport plus most of all, however, since it holds gears and enacts rev-matching downshifts. Enabling sport plus or manual makes for the quickest shifts, which add a delightful crackle to the exhaust note. New to the E63 is a simplified shift lever with three positions: reverse, neutral, and drive. Park is activated by pressing a button, and manual shifts are actuated via the steering-wheel-mounted paddles.
