The four-door performance fastback concept Mercedes-AMG brought to the Geneva motor show last year is making its way toward production. We’ll see the real thing at this year’s Geneva motor show in early March, but photos of the car testing in camouflage give us a hint of what we can expect. At the time, it was called the AMG GT Concept. We hope the company’s brand wizards have conjured up a better name since then, but it’s looking good otherwise.
These aren’t exactly standard-issue spy photos, in that Mercedes-AMG took and distributed them. Consider ’em spy-photo-themed teaser shots.
You’ll recall that the concept was presented in Geneva wearing a delightful liquid metallic red coat of show-car paint and weird polished center-lock wheels. We have no idea what color is hiding under the dazzle camo in these photos, but the wheels appear to be more conventional split five-spokes. More important, the lines haven’t changed much from what we saw on the show stand. The front end appears to have lost its gaping vent holes, but the profile, and even the shape of the windows, appear identical.
Note the quad tailpipes. While the concept was a hybrid, it looks like the production version will, at least initially, get the ubiquitous AMG 4.0-liter turbo V8.
Notice the quad tailpipes out back. AMG hasn’t spelled out this vehicle’s powertrain options yet, but these testers are almost certainly running the 4.0-liter turbo V8. That’s a bit of a departure from the concept, which was said to have a hybrid setup consisting of the V8 plus a rear-wheel booster motor, adding up to a total of 805-plus system horsepower. We could see AMG offering a top-level hybrid version at some point, which would compete directly with the Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid.
This car, whatever it will ultimately be called, is meant to evoke the two-door AMG GT — an aim reinforced by features such as the toothy “Panamericana” grille up front. But it isn’t actually a stretched version of the smaller car; it has more in common with the E-Class underneath its skin.
We’ll be on the lookout for more information on the car ahead of its debut next month.
There are at least a couple of these things testing on roads, and they look nearly production-ready.
Graham Kozak
– Graham Kozak drove a 1951 Packard 200 sedan in high school because he wanted something that would be easy to find in a parking lot. He thinks all the things they’re doing with fuel injection and seatbelts these days are pretty nifty too.
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