Innholdsfortegnelse for July 29, 2020 i Autocar

Like most car brands, Jaguar Land Rover has taken a significant sales hit due to the coronavirus pandemic, official figures have revealed. Between January and June this year, Jaguar’s global sales dropped by 47% year on year to just under 41,000 units, while Land Rover’s sales dropped by 31% to just under 137,000. The XF (56% down) and E-Pace (51% down) took the biggest hits in Jaguar’s range. The I-Pace electric SUV came out best but still suffered a 40% sales drop. Land Rover fared rather better, with the new Range Rover Evoque experiencing just a 7% fall in sales between January and June. That’s an impressive result, no doubt helped by the success of the new plug-in hybrid version. The larger Discovery Sport was the biggest faller in the…

MERCEDES-BENZ IS planning to aggressively grow its range of electric cars, and now an SUV version of the EQE saloon has been seen for the first time. The EQE SUV, which takes the codename X294, wasn’t due for production until 2023, but sightings of moderately disguised prototypes suggest it’s being fast-tracked. We can see that the design borrows cues from previous EQE saloon test mules, with a substantial wheelbase and rear overhang showing that it’s a size above today’s EQC SUV. Although set to sit at a similar market position to the conventionally powered GLE, the EQE SUV’s ride height and roofline are much lower, for a greater focus on aerodynamic efficiency. The prototype has been seen benchmarking against a Tesla Model X, too. The crucial difference between the EQC…

HAVE YOUR SAY The deadline for submissions is Friday 31 July. They must be emailed to communications@olev.gov.uk or sent to Consultation Response, Office for Low Emission Vehicles, Zones 3/29-33, 33 Horseferry Road, London, SW1 4DR. Earlier this month, Autocar published its response to the UK government’s call for public views on its proposed 2035 ban on the sale of new cars powered only by an internal combustion engine (ICE). While this is undoubtedly a transition that the country must make posthaste, the plan for achieving it struck us as rather poorly thought through. We also encouraged you to submit your own views, so here we summarise some readers’ manifestos for Britain’s entry into the age of electrification. George Koopman Devon ● Battery production is far from carbon-neutral. This must be…

Offering over-the-air upgrades and updates will become vital to appeal to customers with connected and electric cars, according to Gareth Dunsmore, Nissan Europe’s marketing vice-president. Dunsmore believes ‘post-purchase’ offerings for vehicles such as the new Ariya EV will be key “as a way of recreating ‘new car smell’ throughout the life of a vehicle.” He added: “It’s about what we can deliver in terms of performance and driving mode upgrades and creature comforts, such as software and mapping improvements. Such updates will become the norm and will grow over time. It’s about enriching the life of the vehicle, not just the moment of purchase.”…

It’s well made, well equipped and extremely cute, but you might as well know from the start that your opinion of Honda’s new electric supermini is going to depend almost entirely on how you view its relatively meagre WLTP cruising range of 125 miles. This dominant statistic – low compared with the ranges of most other electric cars currently being rushed to market – directly controls who will buy the Honda E and how it will be used. It’s even more important than the relatively high price, which starts at just over £26,000 for a basic version (after the £3000 government grant) and runs close to £30,000 once you’ve bought the plusher, faster Advance version and added obvious options. Knowing that range talk will be dominant, Honda is careful to…

The Audi A3 Saloon is what happens if you go from 17 models to 58 models in 19 years. There are niches to fill and, oh boy, has Audi (and BMW and Mercedes) set about filling them. This latest A3 Saloon is, obviously, the booted version of the new A3 Sportback (a five-door hatchback), arriving on the Volkswagen Group’s MQB platform but, unlike some of its MQB cousins, with fully independent rear suspension across the range. Prices start at £28,380 and head to £40,000 before options. This one is a 35 TFSI, in left-hand drive and not quite to any definitive UK specification. All the same, we’re looking at a price in the low £30,000s for an A3 Saloon in this engine specification, which means a modest 148bhp output from…

MODEL TESTED TURBO S Price £138,826 ● Power 751bhp ● Torque 774lb ft ● 0-60mph 2.8sec ● 30-70mph in fourth na ● Fuel economy 1.72mpkWh ● CO2 emissions 0g/km ● 70-0mph 42.6m There’s a lot to take in about our test subject this week, the £140,000, 751bhp, all-electric Porsche Taycan Turbo S – a car whose very existence as a Porsche, for many diehard enthusiasts of the firm and for a great many petrolheads besides, might not be easy to accept. But perhaps the most important of all is the fact that the people of Porscheplatz 1, Zuffenhausen, Stuttgart, consider it to be, above all else, a sports car. Not a fast saloon or svelte luxury GT, even though it has four doors and a very usable cabin. Not some bit-part…

VERDICT This is the 100th Porsche to undergo an Autocar road test since 6 November 1953. It’ll be a few years yet before we reach the equivalent milestone for electric cars, and we have never before awarded any EV a five-star recommendation. But never before have we tested an electric car that packages its battery so cleverly or carries that mass so invisibly. The Taycan is quite wide for a Porsche sports car and it is certainly heavy, but it performs, rides, handles and captivates so well that you simply don’t notice its limitations. Its maker promised “a true Porsche for the age of electromobility” and that’s exactly what it has delivered. It did not promise a track car, a ‘continent crosser’ or something with the hardcore focus of a…

In May last year, Vauxhall moved out of Griffin House, a purpose-built headquarters on the outskirts of Luton that it had occupied for nearly half of its 117-year existence. The departure left much more than mere memories: this unique building had contained one of the world’s finest car design studios of the post-war era. Created specifically to produce new Vauxhall cars, it was commissioned in 1964 as the Vauxhall Engineering and Styling Centre. From day one, it encouraged a hugely productive phase, setting some of Europe’s finest designers to work on often-exotic tasks, unfettered by the needs of global markets. When it emerged last year that Vauxhall was moving, we negotiated with the building’s new owners to make one last visit, accompanied by several well-known car designers who had built…

Colin Turkington wants a record fifth title. But there were a dozen more race winners last year, all of whom are fired up to dethrone him this time. Forget the 1990s and the so-called golden era: the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) has never been so competitive, nor as closely fought, as it is today. And the 2020 season, which begins this weekend at Donington Park (nearly four months late), will pick up once again on a thrilling narrative that left us breathless at the end of last term. How BMW’s Turkington earned his fourth crown at Brands Hatch, equalling Andy Rouse’s record, is already the stuff of BTCC legend. Northern Ireland’s finest celebrated a title that looked to have slipped clean through his fingers earlier in the day, only…

GROUP TEST BMW M2 CS vs rivals Can the ultimate version of M division’s old-school sports coupé topple mid-engined rivals from Alpine and Porsche? FEATURE The future of Lotus Boss Phil Popham is nearly two years into the job. Steve Cropley tracks progress FEATURE They were the future once Concept cars that didn’t quite get it right EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Mercedes-Benz A250e Impressive family hatchback now offers a plug-in hybrid powertrain LONG-TERM TEST Jeep Wrangler Hardcore 4x4 arrives to set the standard for the new Defender SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p36 CONTENTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE…

MILEAGE 717 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see whether it can unseat the Ford Fiesta as the UK’s favourite small car As lockdown restrictions began to ease and the concept of social bubbles was introduced in early July, my fiancée and I seized the opportunity to visit her mother and spend a week on the south coast. Since it arrived six weeks ago, ‘my’ Clio hadn’t spent a single night away from home, so this would be a chance to fill its boot with something other than the weekly supermarket shop. Renault’s decision to give up a bit of rear leg room makes sense when you don’t have any children to squeeze into the back seats, because it means you get one of the largest-capacity boots in the class. Its…

MILEAGE 107,583 PORSCHE CAYENNE Here’s a Flying Pig update. No leaks. Several months down the line since the major surgery and it is still running rather well. I hope I’m not going to jinx anything. It is talking to us, though, or rather sending a message. The Pig reckons it should have a service in 1900 miles. I will try to keep to that. When the MOT is due, it will get its annual fluid change. It doesn’t lead a tough life but burbles around in an unstressed manner. It could only be improved by being painted blue, according to the actual daily driver. Maybe we could save up for a wrap in 2021.…

Forget the pumped-up TT jibes: the R8 may come from the maker of sensible SUVs, saloons and hatchbacks, but it’s without a doubt one of the most exciting supercars around. To sit in it and drive it is evidence enough of this, but to hear it at full pelt is to fall in love. This second-generation R8 has been around since 2015, with an open-top Spyder variant for fresh-air freaks launched a year later. Its defining characteristic, at least initially, was its quattro four-wheel drive system and its wonderful naturally aspirated and deeply sonorous 5.2-litre V10. Truth be told, it’s something of a belter, this engine, which was initially available with 532bhp or, in the R8 Plus, 602bhp. An update in 2019 increased the oomph even more, to 562bhp and…

LAND ROVER SERIES 2109 As if there weren’t enough Land Rover content in this section, we spied a refurbished 1959 Series 2 109in that sold at auction for £19,440. Said to be one of the earliest examples of a barrel-sided Series 2, it has had a full bare-metal respray in its original colour, while most of the(admittedly few) interior trimmings are apparently original. Vehicles like this were bought to performaduty, so coming across one that hasn’t been literally driven into the ground is to be celebrated. Period goodies such as a sunshade for the windscreen and the safari roof (designed to keep the interior cool during hot weather) are all present and correct, too.…

GOT A STORY? Email our news editor lawrence.allan@haymarket.com Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is embarking on a serious hydrogen power research project with the aim of developing fuel cell-powered versions of its larger vehicles. Should the research effort – which is known as Project Zeus – prove successful, the fuel cell technology would most likely be ready for production use around the time of the next-generation Range Rover Evoque’s arrival in the middle of the 2020s and then be used for zero-emissions versions of larger models in the future. The British firm is currently working on several battery electric vehicles (BEVs) to join the existing Jaguar I-Pace, including a new Jaguar XJ. However, the hydrogen project could give it another powertrain option as the British government’s plan to ban the sale…

New Audi chairman Markus Duesmann has instigated a wide-ranging review of the firm’s future product strategy in a bid to increase the cost-cutting already put in place by his predecessor. Duesmann, who took control at Ingolstadt after Bram Schot retired in April, has extended the measures bundled together in the so-called Audi Transformation Plan in a move that, Autocar has been told, “aims to provide an even more effective streamlining of operations and greater savings”. A number of combustion-engined Audi models could be under threat as a result. As part of efforts to reduce spending, Duesmann is claimed to have called into question the future of many traditional Audi models, including the TT and R8 – both of which might be relaunched as fully electric cars, according to a source…

FOLLOWING TWO ANNOUNCEMENTS of stonking new supercar engines earlier this year, for the Aston Martin Valkyrie and Gordon Murray Automotive T50, Maserati has made it a hat-trick. Called the Nettuno, its engine is a 621bhp twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 producing 538lb ft torque, and it’s far from conventional, with an all-new pre-chamber combustion system so far used only in Formula 1. The Nettuno will make its debut at the launch of the new Maserati MC20 supercar in September. The concept is similar to but mechanically simpler than the Mahle Jet Ignition pre-chamber concept that we looked at in the 8 January issue. The idea is that rather than compressing and firing a single charge of fuel and air in the combustion chamber as normal, some of the mixture is initially ignited…

Those about to sign up for their new BMW 3 Series really ought to drive the Giulia, which has been lightly updated for 2020. At £37,125, the mid-ranking Sprint is marginally more expensive than the 320i M Sport, but 197bhp and 243lb ft give it an edge on paper, and with an eight-speed gearbox from ZF, Alfa is hardly skimping on the hardware. The Italian saloon is also claimed to be the lighter of the two, and this is a claim backed up by the Sprint’s cross-country pace. If you had told me this four-cylinder turbo engine was making closer to 230bhp, I wouldn’t have doubted it, and yet the crank spins unobtrusively on the motorway, allowing a return of almost 45mpg in the process. But despite the powertrain’s efforts…

1 PORSCHE TAYCAN TURBO S Quite simply the best electric car money can currently buy. Savagely quick, beautifully built and incredible to drive. What more could you ask for? 2 MERCEDES-AMG GT 63 S 4MATIC+ V8 seems old-school in this company, but Merc’s four-door GT is a force to be reckoned with. A great driver’s car. 3 POLESTAR 1 Stunning looks, impressive refinement and plenty of luxury and driver appeal mark this grand-touring plug-in hybrid out from the crowd. 4 JAGUAR I-PACE EV400 HSE Jaguar’s inaugural electric car is still one of the best-handling EVs on the market. Added practicality comes with its SUV shape, too. 5 TESLA MODEL S PERFORMANCE Bonkers straight-line pace, hugely impressive range and cutting-edge tech continue to define the original luxury EV.…

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Welcome to Britain! Please excuse the first-name familiarity, but we hope you will soon be doing so much communicating that this will seem entirely appropriate. Besides, it’s already obvious that you have one of those distinctive names – like Boris – that instantly identifies you. In the UK, that’s good. Congratulations on a great decision to take the Aston Martin job. Your timing is immaculate. Following the disastrous sharemarket flotation, it’s clear that the company has big problems, but it also has assets that most failing companies would kill for: in-house talent, a well-engineered range of cars, excellent manufacturing facilities and an impressive, volume-boosting SUV ready to go. He won’t get much credit, but your predecessor, Andy Palmer, left good things behind. Among other good news, the Covid-19 crisis is…

Hamilton writes another record Lewis Hamilton scored his eighth Hungarian Grand Prix victory the weekend before last, matching Michael Schumacher’s record at the French Grand Prix for the most wins by a driver in the same event. It was the 86th win of the Briton’s career, leaving him just five behind Schumacher’s all-time record of 91. Hamilton also started from a record-extending 90th pole position. Vettel linked to Aston Martin for next year Sebastian Vettel has admitted to “loose talks” to drive for the Aston Martin Racing F1 team (currently Racing Point) next season. Ferrari chose not to offer the four-time champion a new contract and his slim hopes of a seat at Mercedes appear to be over, with the team looking set to sign Valtteri Bottas for another year…

MILEAGE 330 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To make an owner’s comparison between traditional petrol and new battery versions of the same model It’s for this moment that we’ve been driving a 99bhp 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol Vauxhall Corsa for the past 5000 miles. You might have noticed that the car pictured above is its electric sibling, the new Corsa-e Elite Nav, priciest of the electric Vauxhall models. It has been with us precisely one day as this is written. We figure the petrol versus electric Corsa comparison we’re about to make is one very many people are going to make when choosing the top-selling Vauxhall: should I boldly opt for the new battery model? If you drop one trim level and can be content with what is still a well-equipped…

Jaguar X-Type Phil has replaced his Vauxhall Corsa: “I bought what can only be described as a genuine 2004 Jaguar X-Type 2.0 diesel SE, only two owners, 159,000 miles with full service history (main dealer until four years ago, independent Jag specialist since then) – and it’s immaculate – for just £750. “Not only are the body and interior spotless, but everything works as it should, too. The air conditioning blows ice cold, all four tyres are less than 20% worn and it drives like a dream, pulling smoothly and cleanly, with no excess smoke. “Even more amazing, I ran her through AutoEnginuity’s ScanTool on my laptop and not a single fault code was shown.”…

An expert’s view TOM JACONELLI, ROMANS INTERNATIONAL “The SLS is approaching modern classic territory. It came down to about £100,000 in 2014, bottomed out and has since come back up. There’s a big price difference between top-spec, low-mileage examples – some people want £180,000-£200,000 – compared with those with 30,000 miles, which you could get for £115,000-£120,000. That’s because collectors are looking for ‘the ultimate one’. A Black Series will be more than double that, and the Final Edition, which barely ever comes to market, is £300,000-£400,000.” Buyer beware… ■ ENGINE The bespoke V8 is highly strung but robust and dependable. Just be ready to average only 15mpg in daily driving. Expect to pay around £500 for an A service and up to £1000 for a more comprehensive B service.…

FORD IS “SHOWCASING the art of the possible with an EV” through a one-off, 1399bhp version of its upcoming Mustang Mach-E SUV. Developed by Ford Performance and American tuning firm RTR Vehicles, the Mach-E 1400 Prototype uses seven electric motors, three of them attached to the front differential and four mounted at the rear. More than 10,000 hours of development have gone into the machine, which can be optimised for circuit racing, drag racing, gymkhana courses or drifting. All power can be delivered to either axle or split between both, with energy supplied by a 56.8kWh battery using nickel-manganese-cobalt pouch cells for high performance. Two chassis set-ups (Track and Drift) feature, as does a hydraulic handbrake. The Mach-E 1400’s bonnet is made of organic compost fibres and carbonfibre is used…

While many major car firms are in the process of launching their first mainstream production electric vehicle, Nissan has just unveiled its second. Arriving 10 years after the launch of the Leaf EV, the new Ariya crossover will sit above the second-generation version of the hatchback in the Japanese firm’s range, and executives believe that two-pronged line-up can give it a crucial advantage over rivals. The Ariya arrives at a crucial time for Nissan, as it battles to recover from recent financial struggles, the ongoing fallout of the arrest of former boss Carlos Ghosn, the strained relationships within the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance and, inevitably, the major impact of Covid-19. Nissan has just begun a restructure that will involve it focusing on its core markets of Japan, the US and China –…

Say hello to the new, third-generation Hyundai i20, driven here in the UK for the first time in not-quite-finished pre-production guise. A definitive first drive report will come once we’ve been able to get our hands on an example with a properly finished interior, production-spec refinement-enhancing tweaks and a correctly calibrated gearbox, but for now, this left-hooker should give us a reasonably accurate idea of what we can expect from the new i20 when it officially goes on sale later this year. Stylistically, the latest i20 represents a fairly dramatic departure from its predecessor. Whereas the outgoing model was a handsome yet relatively plain-looking thing to behold, this latest version is much more radical. Hyundai’s rather curiously titled ‘Sensuous Sportiness’ design language has introduced sharper surface treatments, a lower roofline…

Some car makers can be reluctant to show a car in its purest form in case it exposes what all those nice options and extra power mask. Not so Kia, which has long made even its entry-level models well equipped, with no sense of ‘here’s what you could have won’. That becomes even more important than usual in this entry-level version of the Xceed, which follows our road test late last year of an Xceed that struggled to comfortably wear its near-£30,000 price, despite its pleasing dynamics and looks. Take nearly a third off that price and you arrive at this Xceed, powered by the 1.0-litre turbocharged triple in entry-level 2 trim rather than the 1.4-litre four-cylinder unit and fully loaded First Edition spec of our road test car, and…

Driving the Taycan at the limit confirms what you began to perceive about its handling on the road: that it really does have remarkably well-balanced grip, taut lateral body control and smart chassis response for a car so heavy – albeit, perhaps, slightly less outright adhesion than something like a BMW M8 Competition or Mercedes-AMG GT 63. We started on the Dunlop circuit at MIRA with roughly 70% charge in the batteries and, after roughly 15 laps, the car was almost dead flat. But, frankly, you’d have to manage the brakes carefully to ‘track’ it for much longer than that because they do display some symptoms of fade. The car’s track handling itself is remarkably good, though. It resists roll consistently well before sliding gently into neutrality and then gentle…

MODEL TESTED QUATTROPORTE These are uncertain times for Maserati. In the Fiat Group’s post-General Motors reorganisation, the Trident has been separated from Ferrari and linked instead with Alfa Romeo in an effort to extend the company’s range and – eventually – return it to profitability. This flagship Quattroporte is the car to tempt much-needed new money to Modena. Traditionally, the four-door Maserati hasn’t been a beautiful car, lacking the elegance of its GT brethren. It has taken Pininfarina to deliver a truly attractive Quattroporte with this model and it is a shape without an unattractive angle. With rivals such as the benchmark BMW M5 toting 500bhp, the front/mid-mounted 394bhp V8 was always likely to suffer by comparison – and the Quattroporte trailed 0.7sec behind the M5’s 4.6sec 0-60mph time. By…

One day, sooner rather than later, all this is going to end. The coronavirus will be, if not entirely eradicated, then at least well under control, and in our brave new world we’ll once again be free to savour all of the luxuries that, prior to the outbreak, we took for granted. We’re not there yet, of course, but one of the old pleasures that we can indulge in again is going for a drive in the car, just for the sake of it. And when we do, it’s best that we be prepared, because we won’t be alone; the whole country, a pressure cooker of unrequited desire and ambition for the open road, will be joining us. How, exactly, should we be preparing ourselves for this glorious moment? You…

MAREK REICHMAN HAS experienced plenty of change at Aston Martin since he was appointed design chief in 2005, when it was owned by Ford. It was then sold to a consortium led by Prodrive chief David Richards, and after he bowed out, new investors brought in Andy Palmer from Nissan. Reichman had plenty of work due to Palmer’s bold Second Century range expansion, which coincided with Aston Martin’s sharemarket flotation. It’s still early in the brand’s latest era under Lawrence Stroll, who led the Yew Tree consortium’s investment, but Reichman says the Canadian’s attitude even as the impact of the Covid-19 crisis struck “shows his commitment and passion for the business”. He continues: “What do I get when I see Lawrence? Exactly that. It’s hard work; there’s a brilliant intensity,…

For more than a century, only world wars, foot-and-mouth disease and the occasional fuel crisis had halted UK motorsport. Then, in late March this year, a global pandemic stopped activities completely for 15 weeks. But since the beginning of July, British motorsport has cautiously but steadily been returning, and the early signs have been positive. During the nationwide lockdown, governing body Motorsport UK started to plan for how racing might resume in the new world order. The blueprint was far-reaching, setting out how events could run safely under social distancing protocols and with suitable Covid-19 protection measures in place for participants and officials. Some long-established procedures have had to be altered dramatically. For the competitors, electronic signing-on before the event and a self-declaration process for car scrutineering are the big…

I found your news article about synthetic fuels (24 June) really interesting because, as long as true sustainability can be assured, I believe this is a great area to explore. But then I looked again at the headline “Firms lobby EU to invest billions in synthetic fuels”, thought about it for a moment and then felt my anger rising. The article said that FuelsEurope is looking for ¤30-40bn over the first 10 years, and apparently they want the European Union (ie the people) to fund this. This is the industry that has created the problem that must be addressed and in which just the top six quoted companies made $55bn profits in 2019 alone. Let’s say that again: one year’s profits from just the top few visible companies (not counting…

“The signs are all there that this car will continue Peugeot’s run of sparkling form” FIRST REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see whether Peugeot’s successful formula translates to a small SUV “The time has come for us to stop making this sporty car,” announces Jeremy Clarkson in a mock 1990s board meeting. “How is this for a plan: we make terrible cars. In every way horrible.” “Maybe très ugly?” responds James May. “Le engine très horrible?” “Oui oui! Nasty, unreliable, uncomfortable, et l’intérieur fabric en spit et Kleenex!” This hilarious skit from 2015 was hyperbolic, harsh even, but it illustrated in simple terms how Peugeot had quickly gone from making handsome and engaging cars to, well, the 1007 and 407. Just a year after that drubbing aired, however, the…

QUESTION I have a 2016 Porsche Macan diesel. I love the car but, with all the talk about the demise of diesel, I’m worried that its value will plummet. Should I trade it?Rob Pearce, via email ANSWER I wouldn’t worry about the demise of diesel just yet. The used market is much more robust and demand hasn’t dropped as it has for new diesels. On top of that, the Macan is one of the slowest depreciators around and is still hugely popular with used buyers. Your one benefits from being a 2016 example, with a lower yearly VED fee than one from 2017, and this will also help to keep demand in your Macan high. MA QUESTION Could you suggest an affordable EV for my daily commute of 90 miles,…

Land Rover Freelander 2 £10,000 Six years since it went out of production, the Land Rover Freelander has become a popular used buy, with prices for the second-gen version starting from just £2500. Admittedly, you’ll be getting a very well used example for that, potentially with a patchy service history and a few knocks and scrapes. We would suggest stretching your budget to look at a post-2010 facelift car (there was another nip and tuck in 2012 to the interior and tail-lights), because that introduced the more powerful (187bhp) SD4 diesel engine. We found one for £10,000, and that sort of money also allows you to pick up a handsomely equipped XS, with leather seats that are electrically adjustable and heated in the front, an Alpine hi-fi and parking sensors.…

We know what Mercedes’ performance division is capable of when given free rein by the high-ups in Stuttgart. AMG’s new GT Black Series packs more power than the McLaren 720S, the A45’s engine is the most powerful four-cylinder unit in series-production and the forthcoming One hypercar is, to all intents and purposes, 2016’s title-winning F1 car with numberplates. However, when the SLS burst onto the scene in 2010, it was something of an unknown quantity. AMG had made a name for itself producing unhinged, V8-packing versions of Mercedes’ premium saloons, but here was a purpose-built supercar that had to at once launch AMG as a stand-alone brand, carry the flame of its McLaren-developed SLR predecessor and do justice to the legacy of 1954’s inimitable 300 SL ‘Gullwing’. No small to-do…