Into the light of the dark black night

Blackbird fly!

Mercedes-Benz Australia is singing about selling its 1000th AMG vehicle for 2010. The honour goes to the stunning matte black SLS AMG “Gullwing” which premiered at the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney last October.

The car has since been christened “Blackbird” and it was the first time anywhere in the world an SLS AMG in that colour scheme had been seen. Apparently, AMG has agreed to ensuring it stays that way too, promising never to recreate the designo magno Night Black and red combination.

What a great Christmas present. You can read the official release after the break.

Oh, that bright orange C63 AMG from the motor show is making a name for itself, as well. It will be up for auction after completing official duties at the 2011 Australian Grand Prix.

The 1,000th AMG In 2010—SOLD!

21.12.2010

Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific has sold the 1,000th AMG vehicle for 2010 through Mercedes-Benz Sydney when the purchaser of the SLS “Blackbird” the unique show car from the 2010 Australian International Motor Show signed on the dotted line this morning at the dealership.

“This unique SLS AMG is the first and the only SLS AMG in the world to be painted in Designo magno Night Black along with the red badging and paint highlights both inside and out. “The “Blackbird” was created by the Performance Studio at AMG in Affalterbach specifically to our specifications and we have an ironclad commitment from AMG that they will NEVER be repeated in the colour scheme that it is finished in” said the managing Director of Mercedes-Benz cars, Mr Horst von Sanden

“Each Mercedes-Benz vehicle is special, but we wanted something truly unique and the “Blackbird” is not just the only one of its kind ever but it also gets the accolade of being the 1,000th AMG sold by us in 2010. It is a truly unique vehicle and the lucky new owner even has a special plaque on the car to signify it’s one off status” von Sanden said.

“The AMG range has long been a favourite of prestige performance buyer’s downunder, but the benchmark of 1,000 vehicles is very significant not just for us here but our colleagues at AMG in Germany he said. We are rated in the top five markets worldwide for sales and penetration and in 2011 we have some amazing new AMG models on the way to build on this year’s success.

The other show car from Sydney the “JAFFA” has frankly blown us away with the reception it has received. Finished in unique Pearl Orange with complimentary interior trimming, matte black badging and highlights and some truly one off bespoke features the debut platform for the C 63 AMG Performance Pack Plus has attracted a legion of buyers wanting the car. Everywhere that “JAFFA” appears it causes a stir. The car wont have a garage to call its own until it has completed its duties at the 2011 Formula 1 TM Qantas Australian Grand Prix then it will be auctioned on-line exclusively to our Dealer partners,” concluded von Sanden.

Mario Spitzner, Director Branding and Marketing AMG said “The performance of AMG in Australia Pacific is absolutely fantastic. We regard Australia as one of the most important and loyal AMG markets in the world and we congratulate the more than one thousand new AMG owner’s downunder for helping us achieve this milestone. A special thanks goes to our colleagues at Mercedes-Benz Cars in Australia who are perhaps even bigger fans of AMG than all of us here at Affalterbach! I don’t want to give away too much but you haven’t seen the last of special vehicles from the AMG Performance Studio.”

AMG sales in Australia have been led by the C63 AMG which has notched up in excess of 500 units in 2010 (the 500th C63 AMG was delivered in Queensland last week) to lead its segment by almost doubling the share of its nearest European competitor. The E63 AMG has blitzed its opposition with an almost 60% share of its segment and the ML63 AMG has registered a 50% sales increase YTD to snare segment leadership with almost 33% of sales. The SLS AMG has already captured almost 20% of its segment as it chases down another similarily focused German model.