New opportunities are ahead for UK Mercedes-Benz dealers with expansion of its high-performance and high margin AMG range.

Ola Kallenius, chief executive of AMG, told AM he is pleased that British customers' love of sports cars has positioned the UK as AMG’s second largest market in Europe after Germany.

Dealers will add an AMG C63 Coupé to their offerings this summer and he is considering developing an AMG version of the next generation B-Class.

“We have potential for AMG below the C-Class, to offer a small sports car,” he said.

“In the UK we’re doing well, especially with C63 – it has become the gold standard.”

Every Mercedes-Benz market area in the UK includes an AMG centre as a shop-within-shop facility.

While the carmaker as a whole has put increased emphasis on test-drives, with AMG it is crucial.

“Our sales process isn’t so different from any Mercedes, but we have to get the customer behind the wheel.

"Once they are there they will love it, and it lets our dealers demonstrate the performance and technology on offer. We have extremely high loyalty from customers.”

It’s a view shared by Mercedes-Benz UK.

This year it plans to improve utilisation and visibility of its centrally held performance demonstrators, which its retailers have been able to hire to show customers.

A new programme will let each retail market area keep the cars for a fortnight and enable them to host bespoke events.

The brand capitalises on customers’ enthusiasm by offering the AMG Driving Academy for them to hone their skills, or buyers can travel to AMG’s base at Affalterbach, Germany, to collect their car in person.

Afalterbach can even tune and modify their car to their bespoke requirements.

Kallenius added: “Our customers like performance and get pleasure from the driving experience, from the sound and feel.”