New Mercedes-AMG Black Series Boasts Huge Rear Wing, Looks Very Aggressive

5 years, 3 months ago - 20 September 2019, autoevolution
New Mercedes-AMG Black Series Boasts Huge Rear Wing, Looks Very Aggressive
Ah, the Black Series! Mercedes-Benz is bringing back this nomenclature with the most powerful member of the Mercedes-AMG GT family, which looks like a GT R with a lot more aero trickery.

To date, only five models from the three-pointed star were offered with the tail-happy Black Series treatment. In no particular order, these are the SLK, CLK, C, SL, and SLS. Land missiles with a lot of wow factor, the rarest of all five is the SLK55 AMG Black Series of which 100 were built.

Turning our attention to the sixth Black Series member, the disguised prototype features the front grille from the GT R Pro with a dash of GT3 in there for good measure. More aggressive air intakes in the front bumper and the mother of lip spoilers are also visible, along with a redesigned bumper at the rear, quad tailpipes for the exhaust system, and a humongous rear wing.

What's most shocking about the Black Series is how high the wing sits, making rearview visibility a bit of a problem. The super-sticky tires and lower ride height are indicators this bad boy wants to be driven hard.

We're not too sure what's happening with the hood, looking as if the engineers took Swiss cheese as inspiration for their design. Like every other GT except the prototype spied with the M256 EQ Boost inline-six, this fellow here relies on the M178 engine. It's a 4.0-liter plant with a hot-vee layout, a twin-turbo marvel of engineering with the soundtrack to match the ponies.

It's rated at 577 horsepower (585 PS) and 516 pound-feet (700 Nm) of torque in the GT R and GT R Pro, meaning that the Black Series will level up to 600 or even more if we're lucky. The SLS AMG Black Series had 631 PS (622 horsepower) and 635 Nm (468 pound-feet) of offer from 6.2 liters of displacement, eight cylinders, and no forced induction whatsoever.

Given how much and often Mercedes-AMG is testing the Black Series at the Nurburgring, it's obvious the boys in Affalterbach are putting the finishing touches for a 2020 rollout for the 2021 model year.