“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.â€
Not only is that a great quote from The Godfather: Part III and even better quote from The Sopranos, it is what I said when I saw another version of the Mercedes-AMG GT. I’ve covered the GT S, the GT C Roadster, not one, but two GT Rs and I figured that would be it for a while. Then this came along. The GT C Roadster Edition 50. The Edition 50 is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of AMG which was founded in 1967. As you might have guessed it, AMG made 100 of these Edition 50 cars split evenly between roadsters and coupes, with a handful coming to the United States. Painted in either ‘Designo Graphite Grey Magno’ or ‘Designo Cashmere White Magno’, these special editions received black chrome highlights as well as some different colored wheels. No increase to performance or suspension, just some cool paint and some different badging. So I have to ask, is it worth the premium over a regular GT C Roadster?
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2018 Mercedes-AMG GT C Roadster Edition 50 on eBay
Year: 2018
Model: AMG GT C Roadster Edition 50
Engine: 4.0 liter twin-turbocharged V8
Transmission: 7-speed automatic
Mileage: 1,000 mi
Price: $250,000 Buy It Now
MERCEDES BENZ 2018 GTCA EDITION 50 ROADSTER ONLY 50 MADE FOR THE USA
IF YOUR LOOKING AT THIS CAR THEN YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS ,SO THERE’S NOTHING MORE TO SAY.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a really good looking car. These are the types of cars that really work well with matte paint and dark accents as opposed to your four-door sedans that look like you covered in seven cans of Plasti Dip. But there is nothing physically different about this other than the looks. That wouldn’t be a big deal if they weren’t charging a premium for this car. Mercedes-AMG gave a rough ballpark of $155,000 for the coupe and another $15,000 or so for the roadster. Give or take a few options, that is about $15,000 more than the standard GT C. That I can understand, it’s what this seller is asking that I don’t get.
This seller in Massachusetts is asking a whopping $250,000 for this car. Just to do some comparison shopping, I found another one listed for $275,000. I get it, it’s a free market and people can do whatever they want. But this also means I can call them out for doing this as well. These aren’t some crazy 911R or GT2RS that people are bonkers over to buy and willing to pay $100,000 over MSPR to get one. This is just a footnote on an already really good car that people probably don’t even know exist. Do I think these sellers will get this price? Not at all. There are plenty of GT Rs out there for sale right now under the $200,000 mark that is a far better car. I get why AMG made these and it is a cool little project, but this isn’t the home run resellers are looking for. Maybe they should just keep trying to get that allocation for the new GT2RS.
– Andrew
Charging premiums over the MSRP is nothing new for most of the manufacturers. Its market driven and depends on its desirability and rarity. These don’t necessarily go hand in hand when the dealer places an “addendum” on the MSRP. For example the first gen of Miata was launched on the East coast prior to its West coast appearance. If you wanted to be the first one on the west side of the country to own one, you could have bought it from a “flipper” for a heavy mark up, or if you wanted be the first to buy it off the floor of your local west coast Mazda dealership, there was also a premium to pay albeit a much lesser one.
When MB R230 was launched, Shook Knight was among the first to own one but had to pay a So Cal dealership approximately $20k over sticker for the privilege. Even weeks a month after the launch, there were clients willing to pay $5k-$10k over sticker to own the new SL. IIRC, MB got involved in cases of excessive mark-ups but the market corrected itself within a very short period of time.
When confronted over the markup on sought after new arrivals as being greedy, dealers justify the markup as a business decision driven by the bottom line, not greed. For example, a typical sale/lease of the MB C-class results in much lower profit margin (and sometimes loss) for the selling dealer. However, the factory still makes their profit on the cheaper cars and insist that the dealers do their darnest to trip as many of the C and some of the E class over the curb. The more of these “counters” they can RDR, the better their allocation of niche modes such GT will be. Dealer than views the markup as means to offset any loss of profit on sales of the “counters”.
With 100 of Edition 50 cars being offered, its safe to say that not every dealer in the US, let alone the world, would ever get to see one. I am sure that there are at least ONE MB well heeled die hard that can afford this asking price and probably will. Sadly, most of these cars will end up as displays in climate controlled environment. So, is the Edition 50 worth the $100k markup? The market holds the key to that answer. My opinion, is a) no, its not worth it and b) this car will sell for the asking price or close to it.
A special edition for the GTC version is difficult – on one hand to truly justify any premium there has to be something beyond paint , like the GTS models in the porsche line up with a bit of increased power.
But since the GTC is the middle child here there is no way to add power and still maintain the exclusivity of the GTR model….IMO they should have made a special edition of the GTR instead and they might have been able to get away with just special paint !
You can get a GT C roadster specced in that paint from factory for cheaper than a quarter mil. These flippers are not in touch with reality.