Mercedes will lift the covers on an all-electric supercar concept, the Vision AMG later this month, with global design chief Gorden Wagener teasing its arrival on Instagram today.
The high-contrast image provides only a hint of what’s coming, with a sharp nose, steeply raked windshield and muscular rear quarter panels flowing into an integrated spoiler.
Expected to be a battery-powered alternative to the AMG GT, it’s meant to show “what we think the electric performance world will look like when it’s made by AMG,” Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius added to the news.
Concept set to debut next week
Källenius previously dropped hints about the Vision AMG concept during the Future of the Car Summit, sponsored by the Financial Times. He indicated it will make its debut May 19, with a production version to follow in 2025.
That means it will follow the Mercedes-AMG One to market. That hypercar will pair a 1.6-liter turbocharged V-6 with four electric motors to produce more than 1,000 horsepower — the final figure yet to be confirmed. It’s expected to hit 60 in little more than 2 seconds and 125 mph in about 6, with a top speed of 217 mph.
How the Vision AMG concept will compare also remains to be seen, though more details are expected to be released next week. What’s likely is that the production version will match, even exceed, the raw horsepower numbers of the AMG One considering there are now a number of all-electric vehicles putting out more than 1,000 hp, including the Lucid Air Dream Performance model, the Pininfarina Battista, and even the GMC Hummer Edition 1.
AMG plugs in
Long known for its high-power internal combustion engines — each produced by one individual worker — AMG has been slowly shifting to electric propulsion, starting with a battery-powered version of the SLS supercar, the 740-hp SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive. It was produced in extremely limited numbers starting in 2012.
Late last year, Mercedes’ performance brand revealed its newest all-electric offering. It’s a take on the more mainstream Mercedes-Benz EQS, the battery-powered alternative to the S-Class. Two versions are available, including one delivering 761 hp and 752 pound-feet of torque. It can hit 60 in 3.4 seconds and has a rated top speed of 155 mph.
Parent Mercedes plans to invest about 40 billion euros, or more than $45 billion, in its electrification program by 2030, and it will launch a wide range of all-electric models, including the recently unveiled EQE, the battery equivalent of the familiar Mercedes E-Class.
“All in”
The German carmaker offered a hint of where it is heading with the new EQXX Concept that recently clocked 626 miles on a single charge — with nearly 80 miles range left in its batteries after a drive from Stuttgart to the French Cote d’Azur.
Mercedes is ready to go “all in” on EV technology, Källenius said last year. But AMG officials have expressed a similar mission and now promise to develop high-performance versions of all future Mercedes battery-electric vehicles.
The Vision AMG indicates they also plan to develop battery-powered models that will be unique to the performance brand.
