The Mercedes GLK is one third of a luxury power struggle between the dominant German car brands, all of which want you to buy their flavor of not-so-compact SUV. The current generation dates back to 2008 and has proven very successful. Now, the company is working on a replacement and has even decided to introduce a sporty AMG model into the range.
The GLK Mk2 was spotted on numerous occasions testing around Stuttgart. Recent report suggest a name change is underway, as the new model will be called "GLC", to signify it occupies the same spot in the SUV range as the C-Class does in the normal car one. Regardless of its name, the SUV will be based on the MRA (Modular Rear Architecture) and offer carryover engines from the sedan, including a one with a spicy flavor.
Hold on to your horses
Immediately after receiving spy photos of a hot version of the GLC a few days ago, the whole automotive press scene went wild with speculation. Most if not all stated it was the hardcore GLC 63 AMG and even went as far as to suggest it's powered by a 4-liter V8 twin-turbo engine with over 500 horsepower, which is kind of a lot.
Why did they do that? Because that's what Mercedes is supposed to be working on. Officials have confirmed its development and even went as far as to suggest a heart transplant from the W205 C63 AMG was going to take place.
But after the dust had settled, we looked a little closer at the photos and discovered a chink in the V8 theory's armor. Doesn't the C63 AMG have only one bar in upper grille and massive air intakes in the lower front bumper? Aren't there supposed to be four trapezoidal exhaust pipes, not two triangular ones? Maybe…
So what is it then?
We think that our mystery car is not a true Mercedes-AMG, but a member of the AMG Sport family, a watered down hot car. Since engineers are testing it separately on the streets of Stuttgart, there's probably a different powertrain under the bonnet. We thus have reason to believe that this is the GLC 450 AMG Sport model, powered by a new twin-turbo 3-liter V6 engine and producing somewhere around 370 horsepower.
If we're right, and we should be, the GLC model will be a direct competitor to the Audi SQ5 and to an M Performance version of the X4, which BMW is currently developing.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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