No name change for Mercedes F1 team despite AMG focus

2020 Eifel Grand Prix

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There will be no change of name for the Mercedes Formula 1 team despite the carmaker announcing a new initiative to promote its AMG sub-brand through the multiple championship-winning outfit.

Mercedes announced last week it will “intensify” its use of the F1 team to promote AMG, which it describes as its “high-performance sub-brand”.

However Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said the increased focus on AMG will not lead to a rebranding of the team.

“It lies in the DNA of Mercedes to race,” said Wolff. “The first ever Mercedes was a race car and we build road cars and we build race cars.

“The new strategy going forward is to give the sub-brands a larger marketing platform. And it’s AMG, it’s EQ, it’s Maybach. I think it’s good that each of those brands get a specific touch.

“AMG is our high performance brand and Formula 1 cars are high performance cars. The Mercedes name is not going to be dropped from Formula 1, on the contrary, it’s always going to be a Mercedes, the chassis is always going to be a Mercedes, the team name is always going to be Mercedes and we are all Mercedes people.

“But in addition to that we are also AMG. We represent AMG as a high-performance brand and we want to increase the visibility of AMG which exists today. There is technology transfer between the companies, but just give it more marketing exposure and showcase the technology transfer that happens between AMG and the Mercedes Formula 1 team.”

Last month Renault announced it will name its team as Alpine from the 2021 F1 season, in order to promote its nice sportscar brand.

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9 comments on “No name change for Mercedes F1 team despite AMG focus”

  1. Great. I wish there was good sound reason to buy and own an AMG car.

    They are all quite amazing, but also expensive an heavy. I guess they can sell them well enough.

    1. I don’t find them amazing at all, the majority of them take fairly mundane big, heavy, but luxurious, Mercedes of the type driven by fat 50 something execs and tune them up so they are slightly faster big, heavy, luxurious Mercs of the type driven by wealthy 40 somethings who will soon become fat 50 something execs.

      But hey as long as those folk have money these beasts will sell, but in terms of desirability, pretty low in my view. I’d like to see them make a moderately sized well handling sports car (not Hypercar) that isn’t just a standard car from the Mercedes range with a body kit, wide tyres and an engine tune.

  2. This basically explains why I don’t understand Renault changing to Alpine.

    The promotional effect of the team surely has to be aimed at the whole F1 audience, from those who watch all races to those who hear the sports news on TV.

    Convincing a few petrol heads to buy an Alpine vs putting the Renault brand name in everyone’s heads seems odd.

  3. What good with Renault in F1 when they’re just selling family cars? Alpine is already doing well and could well become a top brand down the line with its F1 credentials, and that will reflect on Renault eventually. For me it’s a good move, but it could of course also be about positioning for an exit as well..

  4. Persons of culture, I have a proposal. Let us call them AMG anyway. For memorable commentary moments.
    Applying AMG alias allows astounding auditory arrays. Assume: “Amazing autosport action! After Alexander Albon, Alpines are altercating Astons, adjacent are Alphas and approaching are Alfas. All adversaries’ aspirations – acquire all-conquering AMG’s astronomical achievements.” Alluring, amirite?

  5. So it will be called the AMG Mercedes F1 team? How long before it’s will be shortened to AMG for convenience? A subtle rebranding designed to allow the Merc name to slip away quietly no fuss no bother.

    1. The full name of AMG since the 1999 buyout has been Mercedes-AMG. Since 2012, the F1 team has been running as Mercedes-AMG F1 Team, and the engine supply was also simultaneously renamed from Mercedes-Benz to Mercedes-AMG. The Mercedes-Benz name actually hasn’t been in F1 since then, it’s all AMG.

      The team is thus already running as AMG under their full name, but for some reason they use the Mercedes-Benz star instead of the Mercedes-AMG logo for its badging. I would assume that this change will largely revolve around less use of the star and more use of the AMG logo to make it clear which of the two entities it represents.

  6. They’ve got a ton of extra coverage just by not changing their name! Mercedes really know how to make F1 pay don’t they. Right now Sky’s pre-race show has a great big 3-pointed star in the background, on their motorhome. I think I saw they get 23% of all the TV time. The safety car and medical car are Mercedes and they even painted the SC red. Toto, James and James are media friendly, Valtteri is the sweetest F1 driver ever and Lewis is the most newsworthy and they back him to make the most of it.

    Mercedes are hot on the heels of Ferrari in making their name synonymous with Formula 1 racing, so it’s worth literally billions in exposure and brand. The contrast with Honda could not possibly be more extreme.

  7. AMG, Alpine, Ferrari, Aston Martin, McLaren, Alpha Romeo, even Red Bull. The future of F1 is strictly performance brands as their fans will welcome the continued use of a combustion engine in some form.

    Leaving Mercedes and the mainstream brands to show how they are pushing the environmental message with electric vehicles through Formula E.

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