The Mercedes-AMG GT XX Is a 1,340-HP, 220-MPH EV Rocket in Concept Clothing

Motor Trend

6 days ago

Officially, the Mercedes-AMG GT XX is a concept. But in the lower left-hand corner of the windshield is a VIN number, just like on any vehicle you'll find at your local Mercedes-Benz dealer. Underneath its low-slung, searing orange bodywork are the bones of a real car, a four-door electric-powered rocket ship with more than 1,340 horsepower and said to be capable of more than 220 mph. A car designed to be nothing less than the new flagship of the Mercedes-AMG lineup.
The Mercedes-AMG GT XX is a concept EV, featuring a tri-motor powertrain capable of 1,340 HP and a 220 mph and innovative battery tech. It's a preview of AMG's future high-performance EVs, promising rapid charging and a unique soundscape, with production models expected to follow.
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'It's a good sneak into what the [production] car could look like,' Mercedes-AMG boss Michael Schiebe says of the AMG GT XX concept. Although Schiebe would not elaborate on details, we can tell you the production version will have a slightly higher roofline (though it will still be 2 inches lower than the gas-powered AMG GT 4-Door despite the underfloor battery pack), and it will be a hatchback with a rear window. The front and rear fascias will also be different from what you see here, though the concave grille with the signature AMG vertical bars will be retained, along with the six round taillights at the rear.
The AMG GT XX concept bristles with innovative eye candy: active aero wheels with movable blades between the spokes that close to reduce drag at speed and open to provide brake cooling when needed, light-up paint on the side sills, a configurable light panel between the taillights, and an interior that looks like something straight out of a Vision Gran Turismo digital concept car. Not all of this will make it to production, of course. But what will is most of the stuff you can't see, such as the tri-motor electric powertrain and oil-cooled battery pack— key components of the all-new AMG.EA architecture that will underpin not just the production version of the AMG GT XX but also a whole generation of EV supercars from Mercedes-Benz's performance brand. A Massively Powerful EV Underneath
The production version of the AMG GT XX concept will be powered by three axial flux electric motors developed by British-based Mercedes-Benz subsidiary Yasa Ltd. Unlike the radial flux motors that power the vast majority of modern EVs, which have a tubular stator inside a tubular housing, axial flux motors feature a disc-shaped stator at their center that enables the magnetic flux to flow parallel to the motor shaft rather than perpendicular to it, dramatically improving efficiency. Axial flux motors are 67 percent lighter and 67 percent smaller than comparable radial flux motors, delivering three times the power density and twice the torque density, Yasa CEO Jörg Miska says.
The two rear motors are contained in a single electric drive unit (EDU), which also houses a planetary transmission and silicon carbide inverter for each motor, as well as pumps for the oil-based cooling system used for the motors and transmissions and the water-based system that cools the inverters. The rear EDU weighs just 308 pounds but produces more than 860 horsepower. Up front is an EDU with a single axial flux motor, a spur-gear transmission, and a single silicon carbide inverter. The front motor has been designed to kick in only when additional power or traction is required at the front wheels for acceleration or recuperation. During steady and low-load driving or coasting, the front motor is decoupled from the front axle to reduce frictional losses and increase efficiency.
Why just three motors? Why not go for four, as in the electric-powered Mercedes-Benz G580? 'We just looked for the sweet spot in terms of weight and technology,' Schiebe says. When the AMG boss pointed out 'there's room for even faster speeds' in the production car than the concept's claimed 220-mph top end, it's hard to argue that it's going to need any more power. The motors that will power the production version of the AMG GT XX are already being made at Mercedes-Benz's Marienfelde plant in the Berlin metroplex. Manufacturing the motors requires about 100 processes, Miska says, 65 of them new to Mercedes-Benz and 35 of them world firsts involving new forms of laser technology, innovative joining processes, and artificial intelligence systems. A Showcase for New Battery Technology
The AMG GT XX also showcases a lightweight ultra-high-performance battery that has been developed in-house at AMG using expertise from engineers at Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP) in Brixworth, England, where the hybrid powertrains for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 cars are designed and built. The battery has more than 3,000 cells with a unique nickel cobalt manganese aluminium (NCMA) combination in the cathode and an anode with silicon content. The tall and thin design of the cells allows them to be more effectively cooled by the electrically non-conductive oil that surrounds them. (Battery cells typically heat up from their center outward under load.) The cells are in lightweight laser-welded aluminium housings, which also provide better electrical and heat conductivity than the commonly used steel containers.
'It's high performance, not only on the road but also at the charging station,' development engineer Denis Blanusa says of the new battery. The battery's cooling system and high voltage (more than 800V) means it can accept charge rates of more than 850 kW over a wide range of its charging curve.
In fact, Mercedes-Benz's in-house charging specialists are working with Alpitronic, Europe's leader in high-power charging technologies, to develop a prototype ultra-fast charger that will enable the production version of the AMG GT XX to add 250 miles of range (as per Europe's WLTP measurement) in just five minutes. The company plans to roll out this next-generation high-performance charger across its Mercedes-Benz Charging Network in Europe. But even when hooked up to the current generation of fast chargers, the AMG.EA cars promise the most rapid charging of any EV on the road today, as the high-tech battery will effortlessly suck in 350 kW across almost its entire charging curve, Blanusa says.
The production version of the AMG GT XX will of course have the neck-snapping 0–60-mph acceleration of EVs such as the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT Weissach and the Xioami SU7 Ultra. But what will set AMG's electric flagship apart from them, Schiebe says, is that its powertrain and battery have been designed to deliver a level of continuous high performance that competing cars simply won't be able to match.
Indeed, Schiebe hints the production car will be capable of three flat-out laps of the legendary Nürburgring Nordschliefe, almost 40 miles. That doesn't sound like much, but the AMG boss points out that most high-performance gas-powered road cars are also past their best after just three hot laps of the 'Ring. 'There is a myth that you can drive an internal combustion engine high-performance car forever on the track,' Schiebe says. 'You can maybe do three laps on the Nordschleife, and then you must make a pit stop because either the tires are gone, or you're running out of fuel. If you know that,' he says with a smile, 'then you have already set the target.'
The production version of the AMG GT XX won't just be about raw performance, though. 'Most of our customers buy our cars not just because of the specs,' Schiebe says. 'They buy them because they are very emotional, and this is something that we will really deliver with the AMG.EA cars. All the senses you have will be triggered.'
And that includes sound: The AMG GT XX features a visceral V-8 soundscape that plays back through the car's audio system when it's driven. Carefully indexed to inputs like accelerator position and wheel speed, it sounds—from the brief preview played to the media—like a NASCAR stocker booming off the banking at Daytona. 'I'm super confident, and I mean really super, super confident, that we will convince the strongest petrol heads with this car,' Schiebe says, adding that during a recent Mercedes-Benz executive drive of the prototype, one board member proclaimed, 'This is the best V-8 we have ever developed!'
The AMG GT XX concept has a claimed drag coefficient of just 0.198. Whether the production version will match that number remains to be seen, but we do know it will be available with an optional active rear diffuser that extends—like that on the Mercedes-Benz EQXX concept—to further reduce drag, so it may not be just a tease. The production car will also roll on 21-inch wheels, with a staggered tire setup—275/35ZR21 front and 315/35ZR21 at rear—to handle the prodigious power and torque funnelled through the rear axle.
The AMG.EA platform features bonded aluminium components to reduce weight, and like the new Mercedes MB.EA and VAN.EA electric vehicle platforms, it has been designed from the outset to be very flexible. Mercedes has already confirmed that in addition to the production version of the AMG GT XX, the platform will be used for an electric-powered SUV from AMG. And they won't be the only high-performance EVs coming from AMG. 'I'm pretty confident that there will be more cars to come on that platform,' Schiebe says, smiling like the Cheshire Cat, 'because we are very flexible. And it's not only our electric motors, but also the battery setup is flexible for different body types.' Take it as read, then: An electric-powered AMG sports car is coming, too.