The Mercedes E 63 AMG is the latest car in a burgeoning market of performance brands that only keeps expanding.
AMG's sales grew 40% from 2014 to 2015, with 68,000 models sold, according to boss Tobias Moers, and it will do the same again this year.
Rival Audi Sport is planning to double its product line-up next year, while less-premium brands are also creating performance-focused model lines, such as Hyundai, which launched its N arm at the Paris motor show, and Toyota, which is heavily rumoured to be launching a performance brand.
It almost seems as if there's a divergence: performance and electric. It's even something Spyker CEO Victor Muller predicted would happen, as we reported here.
So while the performance brands are addressing emission targets by fast improving powertrain technology, weight saving and more, it's certainly not to the detriment of speed.
The E 63 AMG in range-topping guise hits 62mph from rest in 3.4sec, making it the fastest-accelerating model yet produced by AMG. Moers describes the speed as "unbelievable" from a standing start.
But he also admits that electrification and hybrids will be the next major stage of development for AMG, bringing performance and the environment a little closer together. The recently announced hypercar is "the car that opens the door into the future", he said.
And while car manufacturers are busy developing battery and hybrid tech in eco-centric models now, in five years' time those technological improvements will be used to boost performance, too.
If the AMG E 63's performance figures are anything to go by, the future of fast cars is well and truly cemented.
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Tesla vs E63
Tesla vs E63
Tesla vs E63
I think this caught out the Dutch plated P85D that was sat in my rear passenger door (or as near as he could get) all the way through an 80kph contraflow (Autobahn).
Once we cleared that, it was out onto a clear, unlimited autobahn section so I grabbed Sport+ and gave it everything as I moved over to let him past. He never managed it. He pulled about halfway alongside and then dropped back as we passed 160kph. By 200 he was moving back noticeably. By 250 he was 100m behind and when I hit 300 he was out of sight. I slowed to more sensible speeds and left him to it....