Mercedes-AMG GT and GT C roadster unveiled

The GT roadster will just nudge past the 300kmph mark, the GT C will pull till 316kmph shows up on the speedo.

Disclosure: I'm a big fan of the looks of the Mercedes-AMG GT. The car has a captivating amalgamation of contemporary and retro design. The 'long nose, short tail' formula has been successful for the last two decades, and, courtesy the looks, I doubt the car will ever fail. It is possibly the automotive equivalent of the Fibonacci spiral.

Ever since Mercedes unveiled its Porsche 911 rival, car folks have wondered how it would look with the roof hacked off; simply because roadsters from the German automaker manage to only amplify the aesthetics of the coupe. Well, imagine no more, and feast your eyes on this. The convertible version of the Mercedes-AMG GT. The maniacs from Munich have unveiled not one, but two variants of the drop-top sportscar - let's take a look!

The basic recipe for the car remains as is. Lightweight construction, big engine and a whole lot of pizzazz. Like we said before, there are two variants of the convertible to choose from - the standard GT roadster and the more powerful version - the GT C roadster. Now, both these cars featured in Mercedes' plan for 2017 that was leaked a while ago. While we speculated the GT C to be a slightly compact version of the existing GT, that isn't the case.

With that laid to rest, here's whats on offer. The design only gets better with the roof taken away. There's no hideaway hardtop on offer here, just the good old fabric soft top. And, like most modern convertibles the roof hides itself in just 11 seconds, and at speeds up to 50kmph. Everything else, from the gorgeous LED headlamps, to the bespoke interiors have been carried over as is from the coupe.

The same 4.0-litre turbocharged V8 powers the roadster twins. It is interesting to note that the convertibles are significantly more powerful compared to their coupe counterparts. While the 'standard' GT roadster gets 476PS of power and 630Nm of torque, the slightly bonkers GT C goes a step (or maybe two) further with 557PS and 680Nm of whack. The added power negates the extra weight, which gives them identical 0-100kmph timings as the hardtops, rated at 4.0 seconds and 3.7 seconds respectively.

And, while the GT roadster will just nudge past the 300kmph mark, the GT C will pull till 316kmph shows up on the speedo. Both cars share the AMG 'Speedshift' 7-speed transmission that spins the rear wheels. And if you know your AMGs, you know they are all about smoking rubber!

Will they come to India Well, since Mercedes retail only the AMG GT S in the country, there's a high chance that the more powerful GT C version will make it to our shores. We expect the launch to happen early next year, with prices nudging the Rs 3.0 crore mark.

Source: CarDekho.com