Mercedes reveals a new
model, and enthusiasts can’t help but wonder (and artists can’t help but
render) what the performance version might look like. And so it is today,
albeit with one of the least likely of Benzes to get the AMG treatment. It’s a Mercedes-AMG version of the new, third-generation Mercedes-Benz B-Class,
just revealed at the Paris Auto Show last week.
We say it’s among the least likely of candidates for
Affalterbach’s attention because, first of all, the two generations that have
come up until this point never got the go-fast treatment. (There was a B55 AMG
concept built in 2011, complete with V8 engine, but it never saw production –
and probably with good reason.)
These days, AMG has found a way of applying
its skills to just about everything passenger car and crossover that Mercedes
makes – short, that is, of its commercial vehicles. And that includes the
smallest of Benzes, like the A-Class, CLA, and GLA, alongside which the new
B-Class sits at the bottom end of the Silver Star lineup.
So we wouldn’t count on a full-on B63, like Nikita
Akysonov, our man in Saint Petersberg, has labeled these latest renderings. But
a B35 or B45 wouldn’t be entirely outside the realm of possibility. We’re just
not about to call our bookie and put money on it, is all.
