Tobias Moers

A JOHN DEERE tractor isn’t the most obvious possession for the boss of the fastest-growing performance brand in the world. But until recently, that’s exactly what AMG boss Tobias Moers owned – “for logging”, apparently.

So what else is in his garage? Nothing, he says, simply because he doesn’t have time. And, of course, as an engineer for his entire working life until becoming head honcho in 2013, he still prefers to drive every AMG mule and production car at any given opportunity, even opting to drive, rather than fly, to business meetings around his native Germany. No wonder he’s our Engineering Hero in this year’s Autocar Awards.

Moers is a friendly yet formidable character who clearly marches to the beat of his own drum. He defies the statutory suit-wearing attire of your average German businessman and goes instead for jeans, shirt and blazer. Clearly, any attire goes when you’ve managed to triple sales during a three-year tenure. In 2013, as Moers moved from his role as head of AMG engineering to running AMG itself, the performance arm of Mercedes sold 33,000 units. Last year, it was just shy of 100,000.

So how did he do it? “I changed the brand,” Moers says. “I made it so that we would become the sports car manufacturer of Mercedes-benz, which wasn’t the case before. I set up the 43 portfolio, the GT portfolio. I had the idea for the GT4 concept in 2014.” And then, of course, there’s the much-hyped Project One hypercar, which will be revealed at Frankfurt in September, having already secured buyers for all 275 models.

Moers is more or less an AMG lifer, starting out as an engineer in 1994 after studying engineering and business at university.

As part of his dissertation and for the next two years beyond, Moers worked on the Hotzenblitz, an electric semi-convertible city car that lays claim to being the only German electric vehicle in series production prior to BMW’S i3 in 2013.

Moers brought the project to life. “I did everything,” he says. “I set up the prototype factory, did the chassis and tube frame.” After realising there was no business case for the unique Hotzenblitz, he joined AMG in 1994 as project manager for the E50 AMG. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Moers now has 1500 people working for him, who “live and breathe AMG”. He likens the team spirit to a race team, which he says keeps up momentum.

Moers expects double-digit sales growth this year and until 2020, when new products, including the four-door GT4 concept, will become a reality, launching AMG into the stratosphere.

Is this his dream job? It’s a simple answer most people can only dream of: “Yes. It’s a good combination of my passion and doing business. And I have the opportunity to drive cars.” Hear, hear.