Mercedes-AMG reveals the new GT Concept in Geneva ahead of the production model’s arrival in 2018
Mercedes’ stand at the Geneva Motor Show has been dominated by the brand new AMG GT Concept, the four-door coupe set to sit above the AMG GT sports car when it arrives in 2018.
Similar in style to the production AMG GT, and set to rival Porsche’s Panamera, the sleek bodylines of the GT Concept draw parallels with both the CLS already on Mercedes’ books as well as the Mercedes-Maybach 6 the company pulled the silks from last August. Strikingly, the GT Concept offers a more aggressive, forward raked nose and LED headlights featuring ‘Nano active fibre technology’ (save your oh’s and ah’s, there’s more), while at the back there lies a large diffuser and centrally-mounted exhaust. The sloping roofline and panoramic glass meanwhile take a leaf from the Tesla playbook, as do the pop-out door handles. As is customary with pretty much every automotive concept these days, the wing mirrors have been chucked in favour of cameras. Check out those rather tasty ‘aero-optimized’ wheels too, behind which lie high performance carbon-ceramic brakes.
More significant though is the hybrid powertrain housed beneath. The 4-litre biturbo V8 found in the fiery AMG GT R makes the jump across to the GT Concept, and when paired with an electric motor kicks out 800bhp (power is sent to all four wheels, though the gearbox as of yet is unspecified). Exact performance figures have not been revealed yet, though Mercedes-AMG has speculated that 0-100kph takes less than three seconds. Battery technology meanwhile is derived from the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 team, the team claiming them to be “more powerful than conventional hybrid batteries, but at the same time more compact and lighter”.
The AMG GT Concept is also the first model from Mercedes to use the EQ Power+ name, denoting the hybrid drivetrain.
