When it comes to making fast cars even faster, it takes engineers and designers who are not only deeply familiar with the vehicles in question, but who also have the racing and real world speed experience necessary to wring every last ounce of performance out of particular platform.  For this reason, major automakers have assembled special divisions within their own companies which are charged solely with creating ultra-powerful editions of the vehicles in their current lineup.  The origins of these performance groups are varied.  Some grew organically from secret cabals already existing within the corporation, men and women devoted to pushing the envelope regardless of company policy.  Others started off as independent tuners, whose focus on a particular brand and highly refined skills and talents made them an attractive target for acquisition by the manufacturer they became associated with.  Whatever the case, these divisions have served to not only get drivers’ hearts pumping but also to elevate the prestige of their respective brands.

Of the modern in-house tuners, those with the longest history hail from Europe.  BMW’s M division began as a small grouping of fewer than 10 people in 1972.  Initially known as BMW Motorsport, these engineers were charged with contributing to the company’s nascent racing program, which at the time was primarily focused on the Formula Two open wheel series along with Touring cars.  1972 would mark the year that BMW once again became involved in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, starting a trend that would endure for the next several decades.  The M division began experimenting with building street cars for the same people who were purchasing and driving their race vehicles on the track.  After a few years, it became clear that the commercial potential in producing these high performance cars in higher volume through the BMW factory itself was enormous.  The very first car to bear the M badge was atypical for the company, a one-off supercar called the M1 which served well to draw attention to the new marketing initiative but didn’t really represent what the division was all about.  The following year, the company released the M535i, which took their standard mid-size sedan and juiced it up with a more powerful engine, tighter suspension and subtle external modifications. 

This combination of impressive power and handling wrapped up inside a relatively stealthy sedan or coupe would become BMW M’s modus operandi for most of the company’s future, as iconic vehicles such as the M3 coupe and E39 M5 sedan would wow buyers and automotive critics alike through their prodigious performance.  In the 1990’s, BMW M developed specialty cars such as the BMW M Coupe, as well as contributing M versions of the Z4 and Z3 roadsters, diversifying their portfolio and pulling in new speed-hungry fans.

Mercedes-AMG had a different origin than that of their German competitors.  Hans Werner Aufrecht and Eberhard Melcher banded together in 1967 with the intention of building racing engines and eventually full-on race cars based on Mercedes-Benz vehicles.  After a few years of hard work, they eventually began to see the fruits of their labor, with 300-series sedans taking trophies at important races all over Europe.  What drew the most notice was their first place finish at Spa in a 24 hour endurance race which took place in 1971.  As their racing empire grew throughout the decade, the pair began to consider the possibility of translating their success on the track to the street in the form of specialty versions of existing Mercedes-Benz products.  Still operating outside of the official aegis of the German giant, AMG began to offer custom modifications for sale directly to the consumer in 1980.  Owners of Mercedes cars could bring their vehicles to AMG where a wide variety of different go-fast parts and external cosmetic changes could be made to help the automobiles stand out from the crowd.  This included wings, body kits, exhaust systems, and even complete engines, as with some of the more outrageous Mercedes-Benz hot rods that came blazing out of the AMG shop in the mid-80’s.  In 1990, AMG and Daimler-Benz combined forces from a marketing perspective, putting AMG models in Mercedes-Benz dealerships and then expanding to the United States.  The destinies of the two companies eventually became so inextricably linked that AMG became a wholly-owned subsidiary of their corporate partner in 1998.  Since that time, AMG editions of almost every Mercedes-Benz vehicle on the market have been put on sale, from the smallest sedans to the largest crossover vehicles.  AMG have also managed to forge a reputation as one of the most competent builders of performance engines in the world.

The third member of this Teutonic triumvirate, Audi, have a far less complicated history when it comes to the vehicles released under their S banner.  Observing the emergence of BMW and Mercedes-Benz’s performance models, Audi decided that the re-configuration of their entire lineup in the early 90’s provided them with the opportunity to take part in some of the fun.  The first S cars, the Audi S4 and the S6 were largely appearance packages for their standard sedans.  However, as time went on these vehicles also began to receive aggressive turbocharged motors that were much more powerful than their stock cousins.  A few years past the turn of the millennium, Audi had not only stuffed exotic V8’s and V10’s into their S cars but they had also introduced S Line trim packages, which added a performance look and tuned suspension to their regular models without throwing in any whole-hog horsepower upgrades.

In North America, the domestic automakers certainly had their own performance teams back in the V8 heyday of the 1950’s and 1960’s, but when EPA regulations and the fuel crisis shut down big block engines in 1970, it took more than 20 years before the Big Three would once again consistently field extraordinary vehicles in addition to their regular line of automobiles.  Ford was the first to get their feet wet with their Special Vehicles Team, whose first projects were modest re-interpretations of the F-150 pickup and the Mustang in 1993.  The momentum would continue to build with new generations of each vehicle, named the Lightning and the Cobra respectively.  Both of these vehicles featured high-tech engines that not only provided impressive amounts of horsepower but also allowed the company to flex their developmental muscles.  By the time the year 2000 rolled around, these two vehicles would be joined by SVT versions of the Focus compact and the Contour sedan.  The crowning achievement of the SVT program was the Ford GT, a retro-themed supercar inspired by the original Ford GT40 race car.  Released in 2005, the GT was the most expensive, fastest and most exclusive vehicle every sold by the boys at Dearborn.

While the General Motors Performance Edition would have a hand in bringing the race-ready V-cars to Cadillac and also manage the distribution of the SS badge across regular Chevrolet vehicles, the commonness of the automobiles combined with the relative anonymity of the group caused them to never quite exude the same cachet as other performance brands.  Instead, it would be Chrysler’s SRT division which would capture the same kind of energy that Ford’s SVT and BMW’s M cars brought to the table.  Standing for Street and Racing Technology, SRT could trace its roots back to the debut of the first Viper concept in the early 90’s.  After Chrysler introduced the exciting Plymouth Prowler roadster in 1997, the company realized that they had the potential to turn the same development team loose on their current product offerings and add some exclusivity – and power – to their sales equation.  First up was the Viper, which was completely re-designed and which carried the new SRT flag onto the battlefield.  This was followed closely by the SRT-4, a compact sedan from Dodge previously known as the Neon that employed a turbocharged 4-cylinder engine to blow the doors off of the competition.  SRT versions of Dodge’s trucks and full-size sedans followed, along with the Chrysler 300C SRT-8  and the Crossfire SRT-6  coupe.  Even sport utilities got the SRT treatment, with the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8 gaining over 100 horsepower in 2006.  Most recently, the Dodge Challenger SRT-8 has turned heads as the company’s muscle-bound mean machine meant to suggest the same power and fury associated with the original 1970 Challenger classic.

Each of these specialty manufacturing divisions has their own unique qualities, style and approach to the question of how to give the average vehicle a complete personality makeover.  For BMW M, the answer has been the addition of a well-tuned system of suspension, horsepower and braking that feels as at home in the curves as it does on the straight-aways.  Mercedes-Benz AMG follows a similar philosophy but applies it to a vastly wider range of products, with a higher performance ceiling.  Audi prefers to simply throw gobs of torque at their very capable all-wheel drive system, resulting in very fast vehicles which are still quite easy to drive.

In North America, perhaps unsurprisingly, Ford and Chrysler have relied on large-displacement engines to produce instant throttle response, a fat power curve and a rumbling exhaust note – all characteristics which appeal to drivers raised on the high octane memories of motoring’s glory days.  However, as time has gone on these products have matured to the point where their shocks and springs are as carefully adjusted as the valve clearances on their cylinder heads.  The days when American metal was only good for straight-line speed are a distant memory thanks to the efforts of these dedicated horsepower junkies.

By Benjamin Hunting

Benjamin is a professional, published writer living in Montreal, Canada. He has a deep background in three industries: medical, music and automotive. 

He is President of an independent record label for close to a decade, and also spent over eight years as a musical promoter and touring musician.

He has restored and raced automobiles for 15 years, and writes for a number of automotive publications on the web.