MODEL TESTED: 63 S E PERFORMANCE
Price £178,800 • Power 831bhp • Torque 1084lb ft • 0-60mph 2.9sec • 30-70mph in fourth 3.6sec • Fuel economy 21.3mpg • CO2 emissions 180g/km • 70-0mph 44.4m
When Mercedes-AMG was celebrating its 50th anniversary at the Geneva show in 2017, it unwrapped what then boss Tobias Moers introduced as only its third "autonomously developed" sports car (following the SLS and GT).
The name of the Mercedes-AMG GT Concept wasn't a great guide to its intended role within Affalterbach's model range: it was to be the firm's first four-door model. But what was most interesting about the car wasn't its practicality but its powertrain. Rather than the handbuilt V8 you normally associate with AMG, it had a performance hybrid powertrain offering four-wheel drive - and a little over 800bhp.
Six years later, both Mercedes and its performance outpost feel like different companies. But finally, the super-hybrid we were promised before we had even seen the production version of what would become the Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door has now gone on sale.
Predating the more controversial new four-cylinder C63, the GT 63 S E Performance became AMG's first-ever plug-in hybrid at market launch in 2022. It is nothing less than the most powerful series-production AMG road car yet made, and combines in-house-developed, high-performance battery technology with a hybrid drive concept unlike any seen elsewhere in the industry.
DESIGN AND ENGINEERING
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