Stunning Mercedes-AMG GT Concept revealed
Celebrating both its 50th anniversary and more AMG-badged cars on the road than ever, the Mercedes performance arm is giving itself a birthday treat in 2017: an F1-powered hypercar due in September and before then, this: a wild five-door version of the GT sportscar with hybrid power and, wait for it, 800bhp…
The GT Concept is AMG’s star turn at the Geneva Motor Show which opens today (March 7th). It’s not just a show pony but instead the precursor of an all-new and entirely AMG-developed second model line for the three-pointed star’s go-faster division, intended as a stand-alone AMG without any cooking Mercedes versions.
It certainly promises to go faster, as it will have to if it is to take on its natural rival in the shape of another of Geneva’s show stars, the Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo. AMG is promising that in its most powerful form the new car, rumoured to be called GT4, can boast 600kW (that’s 804bhp). Power is courtesy of the familiar 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8 and a single electric motor working solely on the rear axle to act as a performance booster. The new concept is all-wheel drive with torque vectoring for each wheel and carbon ceramic brakes.
The drivetrain, inspired by the F1 car’s and similarly badged EQ Power+, aims to take the big new sedan from 0-62mph in less than 3.0 seconds. It is said to use the “operating strategy” of the F1 car in that, like the F1 car and coming hypercar, the batteries are kept charged by the V8 and brake recuperation so they are always in a position to unleash an occasional KERS-style blast of extra power when needed. Typically for a hybrid, there are three driving modes, short-distance electric-only, V8 only, or with both petrol and battery power working together for maximum thrust.
AMG says the moniker "EQ Power+" will be the badge on all its future performance hybrids, each tailored to different sectors of the market and all with what the firm says will be “incomparable outputs”.
If the tech isn’t immediately obvious from the outside, the car’s aggressive style certainly is. The profile and tail end are sleek but it’s head-on where the car really asserts its presence. With its Panamericana grille, red vertical ribs, slim new nano-technology lights and huge side gills, it takes even the stock GT’s look to a new level of visual drama. Shutters in the air intakes open and close automatically as required, boosting both aerodynamic and thermal efficiency, in a system already seen on the GT R. Also inspired by the GT R are the rear diffuser and central exhaust.
Mercedes design chief Gorden Wagener says the car “embodies the most extreme expression of our design idiom and underlines anew the autonomous profile of AMG as a performance brand”.
The concept features a large tailgate and fold-down seats in the reconfigurable cabin, presaging a degree of practicality for the production version.
That will make it a far more everyday proposition then that its big brother, the hypercar. Mercedes-AMG has now confirmed that this car with “Formula 1 driving dynamics and efficiency” will make its premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.
With AMG, Red Bull (Aston Martin), McLaren, Williams (Dendrobium) and Renault (Infiniti) all putting their F1 fingers into road-car pies in the areas of aero and hybridisation, have links between the sport’s top-level and cars we buy ever been closer?
mercedes-amg
GT Concept
Geneva
Geneva 2017
