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Next Mercedes-Benz GLK to get AMG variant? Not likely...

If you think Mercedes-Benz will slap an AMG badge on anything with wheels, think again. Word has it the German manufacturer will not offer buyers a performance version of the GLK, with Tobias Moers, director of AMG vehicle development, saying that he doesn't see a market for the car. That's not to say the picture won't change in the near future, however. According to CarAdvice.com, AMG is keeping a close eye on the arrival of the Porsche Macan.
"Maybe there will be a change in the market when the Porsche [Macan] comes up," Moers said, "but right now, no."
The real hitch in the giddy-up seems to be cost. Moers says developing the machine into something worthy of an AMG would represent "a huge investment." We can't exactly argue with that. Fortunately, AMG buyers have plenty of Mercedes-Benz models to choose from.

Pre-Race notes from the 2015 Nurburgring 24-Hours

Autoblog has come to the German countryside to watch the Nurburgring 24-Hour race, and just one day in, we have to say it's outstanding. Le Mans has been the highlight of our summer racing schedule for the past few years, the 'Ring 24-Hour event being the appetizer we always skipped. Earlier this year, however, while visiting Miami to check out the Cigarette Racing 50 Marauder GT S, we met Scott Preacher. He oversees digital marketing for both Cigarette and AMG during the week, then comes to Germany to compete in the VLN race series on the weekends, driving an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 for Team Mathol. If Le Mans is the Oscars of endurance racing, the Nurburgring 24-Hour race is the Screen Actors Guild award – the one voted on by the actors, for the actors. In this case it's the race by the teams and fans, for the teams and fans, even though the increasing manufacturer presence has altered the team equation. We were told that it wasn't so long ago that true privateers could win the overall, but that's not really the case anymore. Front-running teams have heavy factory involvement – Audi Sport Team Phoenix, for instance, which finished in first and third last year, has its own 'Ring race center and is running the 2016 R8; Aston Martin is represented by Aston Martin Racing and Aston Martin Test Center, and Bentley has a Bentley Motors team and uses HPT to run another team. The fan component hasn't changed, though, and you can't talk about the race for more than 60 seconds before someone brings up the battalions of spectators. Every driver we spoke to cited them as the most incredible part of this race after the track itself. It feels to us like a giant German Sebring, with thousands of people camped out in the ginormous, forested infield, many of whom have been here since Monday erecting their ornate camping compounds. There will be parties everywhere Saturday night, and so much bratwurst on the grill that the drivers can smell it when as they're blasting full speed through Wehrseifen. Even when we drove a Mercedes S63 AMG Coupe on a lap before the race, the fans waved like it was a competition. Scott Preacher's Australian co-driver Robert Thompson said, "You come around a corner and it's like you're driving full speed through the middle of a carnival." The race field itself could also be called a carnival, with an officially invited field of more than 170 cars. Even on a track that's 24.4-km long, that's like racing on the 405 at midday.

2016 Mercedes-Benz C450 AMG Sport is not too hot, not too cold

Mercedes-Benz is moving to a new system for performance models, launching its AMG Sport line that will slot above the standard cars, but below the full-fledged Mercedes-AMG offerings. The perfect example of how this all looks can be seen with the C-Class – we've already driven (and enjoyed) the standard C300 and C400 offerings, and we're absolutely geeked to test the Mercedes-AMG C63. Slotting in the middle, though, is this new C450 AMG Sport, which makes its debut at the Detroit Auto Show this week. Power comes from the twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 found in the C400, but output is increased to 362 horsepower and 384 pound-feet of torque – up from 329 and 354, respectively. That's all shuffled through the company's 7G-Tronic seven-speed automatic transmission, and sent to the road via 4Matic all-wheel drive. Hitting 60 miles per hour is said to take just 4.9 seconds, en route to a 155-mph top end. There's an AMG adaptive sport suspension with adjustable dampers (from the C63), and the interior and exterior aesthetics have been pumped up for a more sporting appearance. It all seems like a good fit, and we think it'll slot nicely in the middle of the already good C-Class range. Check out our fresh batch of lives images of the C450 above. Featured Gallery 2016 Mercedes-Benz C450 AMG Sport: Detroit 2015 View 12 Photos Related Gallery 2016 Mercedes-Benz C450 AMG 4Matic Image Credit: Live photos copyright 2015 Drew Phillips / AOL Detroit Auto Show Mercedes-Benz Luxury Performance Sedan 2015 Detroit Auto Show mercedes c450 amg sport