For something with well over 1,000 hp, there's no obvious drama to it at first.
With its stability control system in Sport, the new Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupe prototype goes about its business with calm, measured composure. Exactly what you would expect of a large, fast, electric sedan at moderate pace. There's a deliberate margin of safety in the handling balance, the front end delivering strong grip while the electronics keep everything neat and controlled. It feels fluid and encouragingly agile, the steering cleanly weighted and precise, building confidence quickly.
Out on the tight, technical inner handling circuit at the ATP testing site in Papenburg, that composure proves to be only part of the story.
Back in 2022, AMG first signaled its intention to reinvent its custom four-door with an EV successor through a full-sized design study. Since then, the GT XX engineering mule has demonstrated not only the drivetrain's performance but its ability to sustain it too, covering 24,901 miles in just over seven days at an average of more than 186 mph. Now I'm behind the wheel of a pre-production prototype for the first time, ahead of the car's unveiling in Los Angeles on May 20.
The GT XX made up to 1,341 hp, but the initial production version, we're told, will offer slightly less. Still more than 1,000 hp, though.
Lean on it more assertively in Sport+ mode and its character starts to change. Not so much in a straight line, where it's unquestionably quick, gathering speed in one long, uninterrupted surge, but in the way it responds. It feels less dictated by mass than by how precisely its systems manage the clearly substantial performance.
Select Race, ease back the stability systems and work through AMG's Race Engineer function via three rotary dials on the center tunnel and the transformation is immediate. Throttle response sharpens, the rear axle becomes more active and the initial layer of restraint falls away. There are nine settings for response, agility and traction. The effect is less about outright capability than delivery. As well as presenting a fixed set of handling characteristics across individual drive modes, the car lets you fine-tune its dynamic character through an additional 729 combinations.
View Price on AmazonA low center of gravity and well-judged suspension give it impressive body control. Turn in expecting roll and it stays flat, settling quickly into a composed stance with a precision that belies its size.
The underlying character makes more sense once you understand what this car is. The Mark 2 (C590) GT 4-Door Coupe marks a new start for AMG. It isn't the firm's first EV, but it is the first based on the AMG.EA, a platform developed from scratch specifically for performance.
Its drivetrain comprises three axial-flux motors, two at the rear and one up front, working through a single-speed transmission to all four wheels. Drive is managed by AMG's 4Matic+ system, with fully variable torque distribution between each axle, while rear-wheel steering aids agility at lower speeds and stability at higher ones. Developed with British firm Yasa, those compact, disc-shaped motors are smaller and lighter yet also more power-dense and faster-responding than conventional radial-flux units.
Each rear motor is controlled independently, allowing torque to be varied not just front to rear but also across the rear axle, creating a yaw response that you feel directly through the chassis.
Electrical energy comes from a large lithium-ion battery mounted within the floor and center tunnel, with direct liquid cooling at cell level. The system runs on an 800V architecture and so is capable of charging at over 500 kW, but more significant is its ability to maintain stable output under sustained load.
It's not just the way it builds speed but how the new GT 4-Door Coupe communicates what it's doing that makes it so impressive. A synthesized sound and feedback system draws on the character of the original GT coupe, adapted for ele
Source: autocar.co.uk
