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Mercedes-AMG opens first NZ Performance Centre in Auckland
Mercedes-Benz has opened New Zealand's first dedicated AMG Performance Centre in Auckland.
A second AMG Performance Centre is under construction in Christchurch.
The Auckland centre was opened in Newmarket this week, and Mercedes-Benz says it presents customers with "an immersive yet approachable" brand experience.
The general manager of Mercedes-Benz Cars New Zealand, Ben Giffin, said the new centre was well placed to capitalise on the strategic expansion of the Mercedes-AMG product range in recent years.
"Mercedes-AMG understands the passion New Zealand customers have for the performance brand,” he says.
“We are very proud to be opening New Zealand’s first AMG Performance Centre here in Auckland. This showroom space will offer a brilliant opportunity to demonstrate the importance of the Mercedes-AMG brand to our customers, and will allow performance enthusiasts to experience the true spirit of the Affalterbach brand here in New Zealand.”
The company unveiled the new Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 coupe during the official opening of the centre last night.
The head of Mercedes-AMG in Australasia Dennis Mehan said AMG produced more than 130,000 cars a year, and had 1500 employees.
"There are plenty more exciting cars to come - we're only just seeing the beginning," he told the gathering.
"The pace of technological change is unbelievable; you'll see that shortly with a car called Project One. We'll be the first manufacturer ever to put a Formula 1 engine into a road car. There's eight of these cars coming Down Under, at an on-road cost just under the five-million-dollar mark."
One in every five Mercedes cars sold in Australasia was an AMG, and it was AMG's fifth-largest market in the world.
"We see a lot of technology that's currently in F1 coming down to these [road] cars. In fact, keep a look out for the upcoming '53' range. The 48-volt technology that's in these cars called EQ Boost is straight out of last year's F1 car. So don't think that F1 technology doesn't reach us every day," he said.
