It is rather well known that Hans-Werner Aufrecht (A) and his partner Erhard Melcher (M) founded AMG in 1967 at Aufrecht's birthplace of Grossaspach (G); hence the name, "AMG." What is not as well known is their early history and the humble beginnings of AMG.

Back in the mid-1960s, there were two guys with a small garage in an old mill that were building engines for fast cars, really fast cars. When these two guys acted on their urge they spawned one of today's largest suppliers of exclusive high-performance cars. The two guys were Hans-Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher, the founders of AMG Motorenbau und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (AMG Engine Production and Development, Ltd.). Thankfully, the company name was later shortened to AMG.

Aufrecht and Melcher started in 1965 by preparing a racing engine for Manfred Schiek's 300SE. Two years later, the owners officially founded the company and began their humble beginnings in the "Old Mill" in Burgstall, Germany.

According to historical information provided by Mercedes-AMG, the first private customer of the new company was a Mercedes owner from Kiel. With a humble beginning there is always a good story. Here's the gist of the story going around today, which is said to be Friedrick Aufrecht's story. Friedrick is the brother of AMG co-founder, Hans-Werner. Continue reading » »

Back in December of 2006, EPA fined Mercedes-Benz USA and DaimlerChrysler AG for certain air pollution violations. At that time, 29,000 AMG Mercedes-Benz vehicles were involved with a recall to address emission related defects.

Everyone with an affected AMG Mercedes-Benz has been to the dealer to have their software updated and the secondary relay in the air pumps replaced right? OK, probably not.

We are providing this information now so those that have purchased a used car will be aware of the issue. And, they can have their car repaired at the dealer under the recall if necessary.

The following information is from EPA's "Settlement Fact Sheet" published on their compliance website. It provides the VIN number ranges and AMG Mercedes-Benz models recalled. Continue reading » »

DaimlerChrysler Press Release (Stuttgart): WestLB AG of Düsseldorf, which is a German bank, has informed DaimlerChrysler AG that on April 4, 2007, the volume of DaimlerChrysler shares that it holds for trading purposes exceeded the threshold of 10% of the voting rights in DaimlerChrysler AG and that it currently holds an equity interest of 14.006% (144,172,765 shares).

According to the information WestLB provided, these are purely financial transactions, which are completely hedged with futures. The number of DaimlerChrysler shares held by WestLB is to be reduced again to well below 3% of the capital stock in the foreseeable future. The transactions therefore do not result in any shift in DaimlerChrysler’s shareholder structure. 

According to a statement by DaimlerChrysler, Mercedes-Benz will sell four AMG models in China this year. The AMG models slated for sale are the S65 AMG, E63 AMG, ML63 AMG and G55 AMG.  Mercedes-Benz expects strong sales given the wealth that now exists in China.

Source: Forbes.com