2011 Mercedes C63 AMG: Now it's official

2011 Mercedes C63 AMG - now it's official

Mercedes finally get their act together and release official details – and a heap of photos – for the 2011 C63 AMG saloon and estate.

It’s more than a month since we published leaked photos of the 2011 Mercedes C63 AMG. We also had an extra set of snaps last week, but they told us nothing we didn’t already know so we didn’t publish them. We also reckoned Mercedes were about to reveal the 2011 Mercedes C63 AMG officially so we may as well wait. Which they have.

As a result, you get treated to a full set of photos of both the C63 AMG saloon and the C63 AMG Estate in the gallery below. And I think we’d take either but we’d err towards the Estate. There’s something very appealing about a very powerful load-lugger.

As we’ve already reported, Mercedes has decided to leave the 6.2 litre naturally aspirated V8 in the C63 AMG, keeping the new 5.5 litre twin-turbo for the C63 AMG Coupe – successor to the CLK.

That means power on the 2011 C63 AMG stays at 445bhp but you can opt for the Performance Package which pushes that up to 474bhp and increases the limiter to 174mph.

What the 2011 C63 AMG does get though is the he new Speedshift multi-clutch seven-speed automatic ‘box with four modes plus a launch control. The new box does make the C63 a bit quicker – 0-60mph is 4.4 seconds in the saloon (4.5 in the estate) – and together with a few tweaks also conspires to be more economical – 23.5mpg for the saloon and 23mpg for the estate.

Other changes are pretty much in line with the improvements to the 2011 Mercedes C-Class in general, with new bumpers and new LEDs up front, together with a re-shaped bonnet and an interior re-work with a more E-Class feel and higher quality materials.

For all the Mercedes bumph on the 2011 C63 AMG check out the press release. We should get prices by the time Geneva arrives, but we do know the 2011 C63 AMG will go on sale in July in the UK.

Altogether, a very appealing package.