- Mercedes-AMG is reportedly a few months away from revealing the quickest-accelerating car in the company’s history.
- It’s a fully electric supercar that will serve as a showcase for what AMG has in store for its future EVs.
- Its design won’t be dissimilar to the Mercedes One-Eleven concept, which means it will look like a traditional mid-engined supercar.
Mercedes-AMG is working on its first dedicated series EVs, a high-performance SUV and a sedan, which will be launched sometime around 2026. Until then, the company will reportedly give us a taste of what it can do with electricity by unveiling a one-off electric supercar concept—a vehicle that will become the quickest-accelerating Mercedes ever when it’s revealed later this year.
Perhaps the biggest news about the concept, is that it could be powered by a solid-state battery. Mercedes is already testing this tech in a prototype on public roads. It will also showcase AMG’s next-generation electric powertrain, which includes axial flux electric motors that are smaller and several times more powerful than the drive units used in today’s EVs.
The concept will bear a resemblance to the Mercedes One-Eleven concept from 2023. According to an unnamed high-ranking insider quoted by Autocar, the upcoming concept is “not a million miles away” from the One-Eleven, which suggests it will have a retro-inspired design. The One-Eleven is a modern reinterpretation of the C111 series of 16 experimental mid-engined vehicles made in the early 1970s.
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AMG doesn’t have a bespoke mid-engined car in its past to draw from, so its inspiration could be another Mercedes car, like the C112, which was an evolution of the C111. Regardless of its design, it sounds like this concept will be more of a technology showcase, hinting at where AMG will go next.
The unnamed insider noted that “Where the EQXX aimed to go the furthest, this aims to go the fastest. It will be the fastest-accelerating car AMG has ever produced.” They said it will redefine what an electric performance car is and what it can do.
Even though AMG doesn’t have any dedicated electric models on sale today, it is a performance EV pioneer with the SLS AMG Electric Drive produced in very limited numbers between 2013 and 2014. What makes it special is its quad-motor setup, which made it exciting enough to turn Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson, an outspoken critic of EVs, into a fan.
There’s nothing confirmed or floating in the rumor mill suggesting a quad-motor Mercedes-AMG EV is coming, but it’s not out of the question. Mercedes’ rival BMW has confirmed plans to put up to four independent motors in its upcoming electric M models, so it’s fair to assume that Mercedes, which briefly produced such a model in the past and offers a similar setup in the electric G class, is doing the same.
This unheard-of level of performance alluded to by the insider comes courtesy of mixing a high-voltage 800-volt platform with four motors and a solid-state battery. The latter offers many advantages over current lithium-ion batteries, but it should also be smaller and lighter, which is crucial when looking to make a performance car fun and responsive to drive.
The AMG One is currently the quickest car to wear a Mercedes badge. Its plug-in hybrid powertrain mixes a small-capacity V6 with electric turbocharging and two electric motors to produce a combined 1,049 horsepower and sprints to 62 mph (100 kph) in 2.9 seconds. It shouldn’t be hard to make a pure EV with a quicker sprint time than that.
To make this new AMG concept world-beating, it would have to come close to a Rimac Nevera. It’s currently the quickest road-legal production EV in the world, capable of reaching 60 mph in under 2 seconds thanks to its four individual motors. But while it’s the quickest in a straight line, it can’t quite keep up with the ludicrously grippy McMurtry Speirling which employs a fan to create immense downforce, even at low speed.
Having created the SLS Electric Drive over a decade ago and one of the most advanced EV programs of any automaker today, Mercedes could produce something really special. Since it’s a one-off, it’s clearly more a statement of intent and a sign of what future AMG EVs might be like. It will serve a similar role to the EQXX study, whose technology will find its way into electric Mercedes models beginning with the new CLA.
