The V8 Supercar championship, which has built its success on tribal rivalry between Ford and Holden since 1994, is looking to move away from its blue-collar roots with more overseas racing and more upmarket manufacturers.

Germany's Mercedes-Benz and BMW could be racing bumper-to-bumper with Ford and Holden in the Australian V8 Supercar championship as soon as 2012.

Pitlane and industry sources both in Australia and in Europe have confirmed that Mercedes' performance arm, AMG, is seriously looking at entering the championship. An announcement could come as soon as the Melbourne Grand Prix at the end of this month.

Mercedes has added to the speculation by confirming it will display a V8 AMG customer ride car at the Grand Prix.

BMW's potential involvement is also an open secret in pitlane, although its investigation is not thought to be as advanced. Company spokesman Toni Andreevski was flat in his denial: "BMW has no interest in the V8 Supercars franchise," he said.

The trigger for Benz and BMW's potential interest in the championship is an overhaul of the technical regulations for Australia's premier motorsport category.

The new rules, which now allow more sophisticated V8 engines, have been drafted to broaden the sponsorship net for the series to compensate for Ford and Holden's dwindling financial support for the sport. The recent slump in sales of the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore has seen the two makers pull back from multi-million dollar sponsorship deals.

The two companies now only directly support 12 of the 29 cars on the grid.

The chairman of V8 Supercars, Tony Cochrane, confirmed the expansion talks this week.

"Some of the teams are already talking to potential new manufacturers," he said.

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