C63 AMG ready to eat M3's breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert

It looks like Mercedes is ready get serious about handling performance matching the impressive might of its AMG engines. Autocar reports that the C63 "has been designed from the ground up to make the best of the 6.3-liter engine." To do so, the C-Class Crusher will take elements from the CLK63 Black Series, including portions of the car's front subframe. It will also get the Advanced Agility Package, which creates a "Sport" mode and supposedly the kind of backroad manners that Mercedes hasn't been known for. An exact horsepower number for the car has been hard to come by -- Mercedes wants to demonstrably outdo the competition, without intruding on the E63. Or that's been the story up to now. We reported earlier that the hp number would be 450, but Autocar says, achtung!, 500 bhp. That's only 7 shy of the much more expensive E63. If that's true, Mercedes will have to do something grand with it's middle-rung monster, which mean good times ahead. As for the C, with the new M3 to be offered as a wagon, you'll also have the option to get a hauler-version C63. Still, it's too bad that all versions will only come in automatic.

Thanks for the tip, PD

[Source: Autocar]