Mercedes-AMG teases PHEV GT 4-door Coupe

MERCEDES-AMG has teased an electrified version of its brutal GT 4-door Coupe, which will take the performance of its flagship sedan to new heights when it is revealed next year.

 

Teased in a video commemorating its employees over the past year, AMG showed the rear end of a semi-camouflaged GT 4-door Coupe pulling off the mark with a sound that is unmistakably an electric motor unassisted by petrol power.

 

Click here to watch Mercedes-AMG GT 4-door Coupe PHEV video

 

The upcoming variant will sit atop the GT 4-door Coupe range currently headlined by the savage 470kW/900kW 63 S, with its powertrain set to draw on the AMG GT Concept revealed at the 2017 Geneva motor show.

 

Teaming an electric motor on the rear axle with a the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 found on a raft of other AMG 63 models, the GT Concept developed a monstrous peak output of 600kW, comfortably outstripping the 4-door Coupe 63 S, which features the highest tune of the ubiquitous bent eight.

 

All that power would also be enough to trump its most obvious production rival, the Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid which produces 500kW/850Nm from its similar powertrain set-up.

 

If the GT Concept is anything to go by, the all-paw GT 4-door coupe will be able to complete the zero-to-100km/h sprint in under three seconds.

 

The new model will draw upon the hybrid technologies found in the Project One hypercar, which itself is borrowed from Formula One tech.

 

According to British publication Autocar, the new range-topper will be dubbed GT73 due to a trademark application, a moniker not seen since the extremely rare 7.3-litre V12-powered SL73 from the late 90s.

 

While no such trademark exists in Australia, the 73 nameplate has been trademarked here for the S-Class, G-Class and GLS.

 

A pure-electric driving range of 50km will be available according to Autocar, with the production version likely to inherit the concept’s full electric, full combustion and hybrid driving modes.

 

The concept’s battery system is scalable and can be adjusted for different models and levels of performance, leaving the door open for different states of tune in the S-Class, G-Class and GLS.

 

No reveal date has been set for the GT73, however like its Concept forebear, the Geneva motor show in March would be a logical venue for a debut.

 

AMG chairman Tobias Moers told GoAuto in 2018 that he expects the first of the electrified GT73s to go on sale globally next year.

 

The GT 4-door Coupe is the third model developed exclusively by and for AMG following the SLS and GT coupe/cabriolet, and launched in Australia in May with the 63 S and mild-hybrid 53 variants.

 

With one month left in 2019, Mercedes has sold 65 examples of the GT 4-door Coupe, which asks $251,140 plus on-roads for the 53 and $351,640 for the 63 S.