Here’s a conundrum for you: what should Mercedes-AMG do in the electric era? Everyone’s favourite hot-rodders from Affalterbach have spent the past 59 years perfecting the art of internal combustion. They build the kind of big V8s and high-revving V12s that shake the earth around them. These engines are so guttural, so powerful, they seem to have a gravity of their own, warping space and time around them. Each hand-built AMG engine proudly bears a signed plaque from its builder. Some AMG clients have even been known to request engines from their favourite builders, like a command performance.
So, how does a company like that — one synonymous with gasoline-gargling, fire-spitting combustion engines — thrive in the era of silent battery power? You’re looking at the answer.
Meet the Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupé, the first all-electric AMG built from a clean sheet. Despite its rather uninspired name, this is a car that will command attention.
“From my time at AMG, I know how high the bar is set in Affalterbach. With this first model on the new AMG.EA architecture, we don’t just meet it, we move it,” said Ola Källenius, chairman of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz.
One gets the sense that Källenius and the AMG team have thrown every bit of technology they could into this machine. It starts with the AMG.EA electric architecture, designed for high performance and long-range endurance.
Three axial-flux motors — two on the rear axle, one on the front — built by Mercedes subsidiary YASA combine to produce a tire-smouldering 1,153 hp and 1,475 lb-ft of torque. Dashing from 0-100 km/h takes just 2.1 seconds and 200 km/h ticks past in 6.4. Not only that, but AMG seems determined to make this a car that can be used every day. It has four doors, 600 kW fast charging, and a driving range of about 700 kilometres (albeit according to Europe’s typically optimistic WLTP test cycle). Semi-active roll stabilization promises a ride that, according to AMG, can deliver both long-distance comfort and sharp handling.
And for all those who miss the mechanical symphony of AMG’s combustion engines, the company has recorded one of its legendary V8s to provide a soundtrack.
“The subtle differences in individual gears make it possible not only to see the speed but also to ‘feel and hear’ it, which makes the driving experience safer, more immersive and even more exhilarating,” said Alexander Terhardt, who works on sound design at Mercedes-AMG.
It’s a suitably ballistic and high-tech response to other high-performance EVs on the market, but is it really the right answer to the question of how AMG should enter the electric era? Nobody knows yet, but we’re very much looking forward to finding out.
