50 years for AMG! Mercedes celebrated this at the Geneva Motor Show by exhibiting a 300 SEL 6.8 AMG (which won the 24 Hours of Spa in 1971), and by presenting a world premiere concept car, the AMG GT Concept. A sculptural 5-door coupe with an ultra-powerful hybrid engine. Living room dream? Not even....
A new step towards emancipation
An AMG GT, there is already one in the Mercedes range. A biturbo V8 coupe (and now also a roadster), competitor of the Porsche 911, prettier and more affordable than the controversial AMG SLS. So why is this concept car of a sports sedan calling the same? Quite simply because this car will be produced by the end of 2018. The AMG GT family will therefore consist of a coupe, a roadster and a 5-door coupe.
What we must remember is that AMG is already gaining importance at Mercedes, with three models that will be specific to it. And even four, since an AMG hyper car will be presented at the next Frankfurt Motor Show in the autumn. From there, to think that it can become a brand, let us not panic. Even though a 100% AMG dealership opened in Tokyo a few weeks ago. In any case, a good career for what was at the beginning, in 1967, only an independent preparator specialized in Mercedes. And which was bought by Daimler in 1999 thanks to the quality of its achievements. Today, AMG is part of Mercedes-AMG, a subsidiary that lives next to Mercedes-Benz and Mercedes-Maybach and which, in addition to the GT collection, produces all the sports versions of the Mercedes range.
Let's get back to what interests us, this famous AMG GT Concept. As you can see, this splendid 5-door fastback coupé concept (it has a tailgate) reveals almost everything that will happen next year. From the GT coupe, it features the curved grille (pompously called Panamericana internally) with vertical bars and finely designed taillights. At the front, small headlights with unique technology, and two gaping air inlets on the sides of the shield. In profile, a small glass surface and flush door handles. And at the rear, an impressive extractor and a prominent central exhaust system. Pictures of the interior remain at Mercedes-AMG's discretion for the time being.
Under the hood, the coupé's 4.0L V8 is used, but this time in a hybrid version with an electric motor at the rear. According to Mercedes, the maximum cumulative power could reach more than 800 hp. It's hard to imagine such cavalry on the production vehicle. In any case, this would allow the AMG GT Concept to go from 0 to 100 km/h in less than 3 seconds. The batteries that will power the power pack will be lightweight and inspired by those used by the Mercedes-AMG-Petronas Formula 1 team.