AMG has made its mark in the auto industry by building immensely powerful engines to propel large and luxurious Mercedes-Benz models to unimaginable speeds. But with Merc now looking at the lower end of the market, AMG is being forced to do so as well. AMG, however, has its own plans.

Reports continue to trickle out out an upcoming baby-SLS model from Mercedes-Benz’ high-performance AMG division, with the latest claiming the Porsche 911-rival could be called the SSK.

While 2009 was a tumultuous year for automakers, the worldwide economic crisis pushed the auto industry into the mainstream automotive media’s spotlight, making big automotive news stories even bigger. And while new products continued to be introduced, they garnered possibly even more attention that ever before. With that in mind, we thought we’d take a look back at some of the Top 10 biggest stories of 2009 for an automaker that didn’t recoil, but continued on, unveiling an all-new version of one of its most important models, delivering a new exotic car to market, promising an electric car in the future… and making some big changes in its motorsports program. That automaker is Mercedes-Benz.

Starting next year, the high-performance AMG division at Mercedes-Benz will begin to replace all 6.2-liter V8 engines with smaller, twin-turbo units. The replacement motor will be a twin-turbo 5.5-liter V8 that is expected to make just as much (if not more) power, but reduce fuel consumption significantly. This move follows in the footsteps of other automakers to move away from naturally aspirated motors, to forced induction ones. Interestingly, the 6.2-liter V8, the first ground-up engine built by AMG, only recently joined the company’s lineup after it ended a long run with the supercharged 5.5-liter V8.

Sure, you’ve probably seen the SLS AMG supercar from Mercedes before, but you haven’t seen it like this before. In true UAE-fashion, Mercedes revealed its new top-tier performer at the Dubai Auto Show painted in a brilliantly bling shade of matte-gold.

With a very large percentage of all AMG vehicles sold in Southern California, it’s not surprising that Mercedes-Benz chose the LA Auto Show as the first North American location to showcase the performance brand’s first ever ground-up vehicle.

Mercedes’ AMG division is always one step ahead when it comes to performance, but recently the engineering division has made it clear it also wants to be first when it comes to more “green” technologies including reduced weight and alternative fuels – or even fuel alternatives.

For the first time since the car’s world premiere at the Frankfurt Auto Show, Mercedes is getting ready to display its new supercar. This time, however, it will be on U.S. soil at the LA Auto Show.

There’s no official word yet, but Mercedes’ high-performance AMG division is looking to expand and may do so by adding a baby SLS to the lineup. As the new sports car flagship for the Mercedes brand, the 563-hp SLS has just launched in the U.S. and is the first-ever ground up vehicle to be built by AMG.

If the new 563-hp SLS exotic from AMG already sounds like your cup of Red Bull, then you’re absolutely going to love the upcoming Black Series. That’s right, according to recent reports, AMG will offer a limited edition hardest-core version of the new Gullwing exotic.

With Mercedes’ 6.2-liter V8 making as much as 518-hp in car’s like the S63, the same engine in the performance-oriented C63 makes “just” 451-hp. There are numerous reasons for this, but it does seem like those who pony-up for an AMG-spec C-Class are getting the shaft. In an attempt to remedy this Mercedes is now offering a “Performance Package Plus,” which pumps up output to 487-hp, just 13 shy of the C-Class DTM race car. Torque is rated at 442 ft-lbs.

It may surprise you to learn that these are the first images of the new SLS AMG supercar from Mercedes. Not only does the car look startlingly familiar to the legendary 300SL Gullwing, but thanks to spy photos (some of which were even provided by Mercedes) and a few leaked images here and there, there’s a good change you’ve already seen this new 563hp retro-styled exotic.

Thanks to the folks at WorldCarFans, we have these photos of the upcoming 2010 Mercedes E63 Estate/Wagon. Spotted hanging out at the Nürburgring, this family hauler might be more at home out on the track than in the paddock.

The highly-anticipated E63 AMG Black Series Coupe will be an example of how to build a high-performance vehicle by shedding pounds rather than adding ft-lbs. According to the folks over at AutoCar, who cite their AMG insiders, some power increase is likely but the real performance difference will come as a result of fine-tuning and overall weight reduction rather than upping the output of the 6.2-liter V8. The focus will be more on making a better handling car, rather than one that can blast down a drag-strip a few tenths of a second faster than a standard model.

Mercedes is planning to launch a Black Series version of the E-Class Coupe. News of this bad-ass-Benz comes from 4WheelsNews, citing sources inside the company. We can also report that AMG boss Volker Mornhinweg hinted at such a vehicle over a year ago at the launch of the SL65 AMG Black Series.

Well ahead of the car’s launch at the Frankfurt auto Show this September, the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG super car has been revealed by not one but two European sources. The first is respected German car magazine AutoBild and the second is the lesser-known Autowereld publication from the Netherlands.

For many months now Mercedes has been teasing us with photos and details of its upcoming SLS supercar and now the German automaker has added a surprise twist. A while back it was made known that the SLS would come with a 6.2-liter V8 with 571 hp and 479 ft-lbs of torque. Now Volker Mornhinweg, the head of Mercedes’ high-performance AMG division, says another powerplant will also be available – an electric one.

While not nearly so popular as the International Automobile of the Year Awards, once annually a jury of 65 automotive journalists from 30 countries gets together to decide what the best engines are. The International Engine of the Year Awards celebrate engine technology, giving honors to engines in 12 specific categories, including the overall International Engine of the Year award.

This year the top position went to Volkswagen for its TSI Twincharger, which can be found in Volkswagens like the Golf, Scirocco, Eos, Jetta, Touran, Tiguan and the Seat Ibiza Cupra. It makes 178hp and 177 ft-lbs of torque from a turbocharged and supercharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder. That is an impressive 127.1 horsepower per liter. Possibly even more impressive, the engine gets an average fuel-economy rating of 45.5 mpg.

Impressively the TSI Twincharger was noted for winning favor with journalists outside Europe, including North America, Asia and South America. American Matt Davis said that, “Volkswagen’s 1.4-liter TSI EA111 is still way ahead of the curve, sensationally over-engineered in all the right ways, and even makes the company’s fantastic 2-litre TFSI already look like yesterday’s tech.”

With those figures the TSI Twincharger also claimed the award for best engine in the 1.0- to 1.4-liter class, as well as the Green Engine of the year class. It also unseated the BMW twin-turbo 3.0-liter engine, which took the top honors in both 2007 and 2008.

In total, German automakers look awards in 11 of the 12 spots with Toyota the lone exception in the Sub 1.0-liter Class for it’s 1.0-liter three-cylinder, which can be found in the Aygo, IQ, Yaris/Vitz, Citroën C1, Peugeot 107 and Subaru Justy.

The award for Best New Engine of the Year went to Porsche for its direct-injection 3.8-liter flat-six, while the Best Performance Engine award was won by the Mercedes/AMG 6.2-liter V8.

Follow the jump for a full-list of the 2009 International Engine of the Year winners:

[Source: ukipme.com]

Mercedes is bringing its AMG Driving Academy to the U.S. this September, allowing participants to hone their driving skills and experience the thrill that an AMG can deliver.

Launched in Europe in 2007, the AMG Driving Academy lets you get behind the wheel of cars like the E63 AMG, SL63 AMG, C63 AMG, SLK55 AMG and the CLK63 AMG Black Series. And now for 2009, AMG has included the upcoming 2011 SLS supercar. On a racetrack the AMG driving instructors will help you develop your driving skills and get the most out of the amazing AMG machines.

A Stage 1 one day program teaches fundamentals in performance driving and car control and includes a “high speed” track drive. A Stage 2 class is more advanced and involves much more track driving with timed laps and a “competitive performance course competition.”

Priced at $1,895 per person for Stage 1 and $3,495 per person for Stage 2, the AMG Academy will be at Lime Rock Park in Lime Rock, CT from September 9-15; Palm Beach International Raceway in West Palm Beach, FL from September 22-27 and Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, CA from November 7-8 and 17-20th.

The AMG Driving Academy will also offer a special opportunity at Laguna Seca from November 17-20th to drive the upcoming 2011 SLS AMG supercar. The price for this one-day event is $2,295 and includes a one night stay at the InterContinental Hotel in Monterey.

For more information visit:

www.AMGacademy.com

Official release after the jump:

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to get truly professional OEM high-quality automotive photography then take a gander at these photos. This massive gallery was posted on AMG’s “Private Lounge” forum, restricted to AMG owners.

Mercedes has just announced a long list of updates for the 2010 versions of the S63 and S65 AMG vehicles, ensuring they are top in their respective classes.

Hot on the heels of the new E-Class, Mercedes has released details of the high-performance E63 version, which will make its official debut at the New York Auto Show on April 8th.

If the pictures of Mercedes’ new supercar, the SLS AMG, weren’t enough for you, then we’re happy to announce that we have video!

The New York Auto Show is always an important venue for Mercedes-Benz, which is really no surprise considering the prevalence of black S-Classes that roam the streets of the Big Apple.

It’s baaaaack! After the SLR recently bowed out with it’s last (Stirling Moss) iteration, Mercedes hasn’t wasted any time in producing a new supercar – with gullwing doors!

Mercedes-Benz has once again teamed up with Swiss watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen to offer a special edition SL63 that comes with an IWC “Grosser Ingenieur” watch. The timepiece is also a special edition model and is designed to compliment the SL.

One particular highlight of the SL63 AMG Edition IWC is that it comes with stunning matte-white paint. That, plus you get the incredible performance of the first ever ground-up AMG designed and built engine. The 6.2-liter V-8 pumps out 518hp and 465 ft-lbs of torque to propel the SL63 to 60 mph in just 4.2 seconds.

Exclusivity is the name of the game here and so production is extremely limited. Only 200 models will be built with just 63 are coming to the US.

Mercedes/AMG has been working with IWC since 2004 when the partners presented the CLS55 AMG “IWC Engineer.”

Official press release after the jump:

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