Five reasons to be excited about the AMG GT

Race week in the city of Nice, France. The year is 1901. Emil Jellinek, a wealthy entrepreneur and customer of Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft - DMG - decimates all in his 35hp DMG racer, making it the talk of the town.

Jellinek decides he needs a name for this race-bred DMG. He uses that of his daughter. Mercedes. Yes, one of the very first Mercedes cars was a racer.

This is important, for this week Mercedes finally revealed the AMG GT to the world, a car that continues the German company's fine tradition of building bombastic racers.

Dr Dieter Zetsche even name-checked that little DMG when he revealed the AMG GT to a private audience on the eve of this year's Paris Motor Show. In a swimming pool. How very rock n' roll.

We've had a shotgun ride in a development model of this ‘baby' SLS. And after a good poke around the actual, production-ready car at this year's motor show, it's safe to say we're rather excited by it. Not least because it looks fantastic up close. The Paris Motor Show crowd seemed to agree, too, with much of the footfall gravitating towards the little GT.

Here are five reasons to get excited about its imminent arrival on our roads...

Pictures: Rowan Horncastle

The new AMG GT will come with a brand new 4.0-litre twin-turbo AMG engine. Out goes the wonderful 6.2-litre V8 from the SLS, and in comes a more efficient V8 in its place.

But the boss of AMG Tobias Moers - whose favourite engine is that old 6.2-litre lump - assured TopGear.com that the new engine is a corker. "You will not miss the naturally aspirated engine," assures Moers, "not in sound, not in response".

In standard ‘GT' guise - the base AMG GT - that V8 develops 462bhp. Plump for the ‘GT S' version and you'll get a nice, round 510bhp, meaning this little AMG will accelerate from 0-62mph in 3.8 seconds and on to a top speed of 193mph.

Game on.

AMG wanted a halo car in which to launch its new V8 baby, but the brand-new unit can be used in other applications too. Like the brand new AMG C63, which also made its debut at Paris. Moers is quietly confident his car can beat competitors like the M3 - though he did admit he rather likes the new Beemer. "The M3's handling is incredible, really sharp, edgy, I liked it. But just wait until you drive the new AMG C63," he said. Fighty.

This engine will also feature in future Aston Martins. Don't forget, Mercedes and Aston have entered into a supply agreement: Aston gets AMG's V8 and some electrical bits and bobs, while Merc gets the cachet of working with one of the most famous sportscar makers on planet earth.

Thought that might get your attention. Sadly Moers wouldn't commit to specifics - the base car has only just launched, don't forget - only saying that "it's too soon to talk about a Black Series."

But he went on to hint: "Anybody who's had a look at our past product portfolio in the last few years knows that we always have ideas. For sure there's more to come."

Which means that a Black Series GT is on the horizon. "There's no fixed [horsepower] gap between a standard AMG and a Black Series, because a Black Series is also about weight, the driving performance and driving dynamics - it's the whole package," he added.

Just imagine: a lighter, stiffer, tricker and more powerful version of the AMG GT. If it looks half as good as this render someone has very unofficially cooked up, it will be a face-melting experience.

You can be sure that just like its big brother SLS, the GT will look resplendent in its racing colours. And let's not forget, an SLS GT3 won at the 24hrs of Spa last year, and has taken over 37 class victories since launch in 2010. So good, then.

Moers - as an engineering man first and foremost - is acutely aware that for Mercedes and AMG, racing is in the blood, and victories on Sunday means, well, you know what happens on Monday.

So squint at the pic above and imagine: flared arches, monster front grille, huge rear wing, racing livery and roll cage. Oh yes.

There's a lot riding on this AMG GT, and Moers assured us that 'there's more to come'.

"With this new car," he told TG.com, "we've stepped into a new segment of the ‘traditional' sportscar. Think 911, F-Type. We've started with a lower price level [than the SLS], and once settled, we can spread out our portfolio."

Which means we'll see the GT diversify in the same way as Porsche's sports car icon. Expect a roadster, potentially a 50th anniversary AMG GT (SLS had the 45th anniversary edition in 2012), the Black Series, various paint and trim specials and of course, the racing version.

Maybe it's just us here at TG, but when we pushed Moers on the possibility of a V12-engined AMG GT - like the Aston Vantage V12 - he thought about it for a moment before killing our dreams. "Interesting... but no. It just wouldn't work."

The little Aston, said Moers, is a front-engined car, not a front-mid-engined car like the AMG GT. Front-engined cars are easier to shoehorn bloody big engines in. Front-mids, not so much. Boo.

Which is a shame, because that AMG 6.0-litre Biturbo V12 is a monster of a unit. Still, fingers crossed and all that...