Plug-in hybrids are silent, saintly, soporific cars, right? Designed to whisk you noiselessly and guiltlessly around town, before reverting to gentle petrol power for longer journeys, right?
AMG GT four-door
Well, yes - on the whole, but Mercedes-AMG does things a little differently. So when it came time to hybridise the slinky, sexy AMG GT Four-Door Coupe, it wasn't just economy and electric mileage that was on the AMG engineers' minds.
So, you can travel for a claimed 12km on a full charge of the new AMG GT Four-Door GT 63 S E Performance's battery. And when you've done pootling around town, you can engage both the 204hp electric motor and the 639hp twin-turbo V8 petrol engine and go and melt some tarmac (in safety, at your local race track of course...).
Combined, the PHEV powertrain of this, the most powerful AMG model ever, pumps out 843hp and 1,400Nm of torque. Yes, you read that right. Shunting all of that torque and power tarmac-wards is a nine-speed automatic gearbox and a 4MATIC+ four-wheel drive system that allows this mighty plug-in to hit 100km/h in just 2.9 seconds, and a top speed of 316km/h. It'll hit 200km/h in just ten seconds.
That 204hp electric motor actually drives the rear wheels via its own two-speed gearbox - one gear is for cruising, one is a lower gear for maximum acceleration. There's also an electronically controlled limited-slip rear differential. Power can, of course, be sent to the front wheels via the 4MATIC system when slip at the rear is detected.
The battery that powers the motor is a compact, lightweight, 6.1kWh unit that weighs just only 89kg, and which has been developed with experience drawn from the Mercedes-AMG F1 team's racing hybrid setup. According to Mercedes: "The AMG high-performance battery combines high power that can be called up frequently in succession with low weight to increase the overall performance of the vehicle. Added to this are the fast energy draw and the high power density."
The battery, which runs at 400-volts, gets its own dedicated cooling system in which 14 litres of coolant circulate from top to bottom through the entire battery past each cell with the help of a specially developed high-performance electric pump. This should keep the battery at an ideal 45-degrees Celsius.
Acoustic alert
To combine the power of both electric and petrol, there's always a reserve of charge kept in the battery for maximum acceleration. You can select from the usual AMG performance driving modes - "Electric", "Comfort", "Sport", "Sport+", "RACE", "Slippery" and "Individual" - and there's also an extra "silent" mode, which the system defaults to when starting up in Comfort, so as to be able to slip quietly away on those early morning starts. Well, almost silently - there is a specially-designed 'acoustic alert' on the outside, which starts to fade out between 20km/h and 50km/h, so that careless pedestrians can hear you coming. Or you could just fire up the V8...
If you still want some extra noise when you're going faster - and you can hit a maximum of 130km/h in electric mode - then there are also 'Balanced' and 'Powerful' modes for that noise. There's also a clever regenerative braking system, which goes from all-off coasting to 'one-pedal' mode for city driving, and which inevitably has a special on-track mode that maximises braking power while also trying to mimic the feel of conventional engine braking. Don't worry, there are proper brakes too - 420mm carbon-ceramic whopper stoppers on the front wheels, with 380mm units on the back. The front brakes get six-piston calipers.
The AMG GT 63 S E Performance gets a new suspension setup - the same three-chamber air suspension system is carried over from before, but now it gets new adaptive dampers, with two pressure relief valves which allow both bump absorbtion and rebound damping to be more finely adjusted on the fly. There's also a bit of artificial intelligence in the suspension system - the system uses the available sensors, among other things, to ascertain the speed, lateral acceleration, steering angle and yaw rate. Thanks to an intelligent pilot-control principle, it is possible to anticipate how the driver wants the vehicle to behave, based on the driver's actions and on data from the sensors.
No major styling changes
Style-wise, you won't notice many differences from the old AMG GT Four-Door, aside from the addition of an extra flap for the charging socket in the back bumper. There's a new front bumper and air intake design, which is reckoned to be more like that of the two-door AMG GT coupe. There are also red badges, and special 'E Performance' badges on the front wings. Inside, the MBUX digital dashboard gets special hybrid performance displays. High-quality graphics visualise the power flow of the entire drive system - rpm, output, torque and temperature of the electric motor, as well as the temperature of the battery. There's even an optional rear-seat display for all of this, should you wish to put your passengers firmly to sleep...
Up front, there's the distinctive new twin-spoke AMG steering wheel, which also gets the little circular engine and driving mode selectors. There's also Nappa leather in a choice of colours and contrast stitching options.
"With the new Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance we are transporting our brand DNA into an electrified future. In doing so, we are following our own technical path, which is what has always made AMG so special and desirable. Developed entirely in Affalterbach, the performance hybrid offers a fascinating level of driving dynamics and rightly bears our new technology label E Performance. With this new concept, we are also opening up to new target groups who will experience Mercedes-AMG as the performance luxury brand of the 21st century. Our departure into AMG-typical electrification is flanked by a large-scale campaign. And I am delighted that we have also been able to win over a special partner for this in the form of superstar will.i.am, who we have been able to inspire with our technology", says Philipp Schiemer, Chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-AMG GmbH.
"Mercedes-AMG has always stood for top performance and maximum driving dynamics. In developing our E Performance hybrid strategy, it was therefore clear from the outset that we would pursue a stand-alone concept for AMG that combines our core brand values with high efficiency. It is now entering series production with the new Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance. The layout with the combustion engine at the front and Electric Drive Unit on the rear axle offers numerous advantages. The optimised weight distribution, best possible utilisation of torque and the very fast power delivery promise driving dynamics at the highest level. Added to this is the high-performance battery developed in-house, which has twice the power density of conventional drive batteries and, like many other components, is inspired by technology from Formula 1", says Jochen Hermann, Technical General Manager of Mercedes-AMG GmbH.
Hilariously, given that Mercedes-AMG could have called on the services of, say, Lewis Hamilton, Valterri Bottas, or even George Russell to help promote this new monster hybrid, instead it has engaged the services of music star will.i.am. Mr Am will, apparently, "act as a long-term partner and brand ambassador for the "Future of Driving Performance" vehicles with an electrified powertrain." On top of which, he apparently is: "a true car enthusiast who extensively modifies his private vehicles with a high level of technical and aesthetic understanding. He has a keen eye for innovations that bridge the gap between culture and technology. He strives to improve things down to the last detail, extend boundaries and question the accepted until the optimum solution is found - just like the Mercedes-AMG team when developing the performance and sports car models. The long-term partnership between will.i.am and Mercedes-AMG focuses on projects relating to the company's electrified future and musical themes."