Mercedes reveals its AMG Sport line

We're guessing it was a happy Christmas in the Mercedes AMG household. Successful launches of the new AMG GT and the small matter of winning the Formula One world championship last year means lots of smiles.

How to celebrate? By introducing a semi-skimmed version of its AMG range. Mercedes has introduced the ‘AMG Sport' line of cars, which are like BMW's sub-M Division ‘M Performance' range - think M135i - the first of which is this new C450 AMG (there's also a GLE 450 AMG Coupe).

Why? "To render the AMG brand and its technology more accessible," that's why. So ‘AMG Sport' will sit just below the proper AMG stuff - the mentalist, tyre-melting ones we rather like here at TG - and just above the simple AMG Sport spec cars.

What you get is a C-Class 'geared towards the C63', with a twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 engine producing a healthy 367bhp and 383lb ft of torque, a seven-speed gearbox, 4MATIC all-wheel-drive and AMG's three-stage 'Ride Control' sports suspension.

So you'll be able to select the damping characteristics, as well as utilise all that power, torque and grip to go from 0-62mph in just 4.9 seconds (or five seconds flat if you buy the estate version).

There are AMG-specific design elements both in the body and the interior - a new bodykit, alloy wheels, air intakes, new upholstery, sports seats etc etc - with of course, the option of ticking as many, um, options as you want.

"The new Sport models represent a convincing proposition for our customers," explains AMG boss Tobias Moers. "For all our dynamic growth, we remain true to our brand claim of ‘driving performance".