Mercedes-Benz C-Class AMG Sport pack details

Mercedes-Benz has been busy behind the scenes giving its impending C-Class a serious boost upmarket with uprated technology and styling drawing on its flagship S-Class.  And the upgrading continues with the AMG Sport Line pack for the C, with details showing a more aggressive approach.

With the AMG Line, the C-Class gets a suspension set-up that slings the car 15mm lower than the standard model, and the dropped wheel-arches are filled with larger AMG 18-inch five-spoke alloys behind which are perforated brake disks with new calipers bearing the Mercedes branding.

There's a more aggressive body kit, with the nose getting a sportier front bumper and gaping air intakes to underscore the mesh grille and chrome accents, low-sculpted AMG side skirts and metal window bevels enhance the profile, and the tail finishes off with a new diffuser and bumper nestling larger exhausts.

The engine line-up for the launch of the new model starts with the base C180's turbo 115kW/250Nm 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol, claiming 0-100km/h in 8.2 seconds and fuel economy of 5.0L/100km. The C200 has a 135kW/300Nm turbo 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol (0-100km/h of 7.5 seconds and 5.3L/100km).

The C220 Bluetec carries a 125kW/400Nm 2.1-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel (0-100km of 8.1 seconds and 4.0L/100km). The C63 AMG's new handbuilt twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 petrol engine is tipped to be bringing somewhere between 340-370kW.

European-market transmission choices are a six-speed manual (not likely for Australia) and seven-speed auto, and all cars will get engine stop-start and brake energy recuperation systems to help fuel economy.  Both the standard C-Class and the AMG Line are expected to debut at Detroit motor show in January and arrive here in the second half of 2014, with the fire-breathing C63 AMG storming in later in the year.