Porsche Taycan to be blown away by new 1,341bhp monster Mercedes
Mercedes has revealed a brand-new concept car that it thinks will change the world of high-performance electric cars. The Mercedes-AMG GT XX is a four-door supercar that packs some pretty intimidating figures, but behind them is a range of new powertrain technologies that will proliferate into other Mercedes models, including one that'll take a similar form to this four-door concept from as early as next year. Advertisement - Article continues below
The key development in the AMG GT XX is its new axial flux electric motors. Developed by British company YASA, the new motor is both considerably smaller and more power dense than existing technology, and its introduction represents a change that is as significant as when fuel injection replaced carburettors.
An axial flux motor works in a completely different way to existing e-motor tech, fundamentally changing the internal structure and axis of rotation. This has many benefits, but the most important are that an axial motor is around one third of the size, and two thirds the weight, of an equivalent current e-motor, yet has three times the power density.
The new tech's application in the GT XX is three-fold, because the concept mounts two motors on the rear axle and one on the front to create a tri-motor layout. The majority of the power is derived from the rear axle, with the front cutting in to help out with traction and helping produce that 1,341bhp peak power figure. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below
No official torque figure has been shared yet, however Jӧrg Miska, the CEO of Yasa, assured us it would be 'thousands of newton metres'. The tri-motor set-up also allows for torque vectoring, which Yasa has experience with through the hybrid supercars – such as the Ferrari SF90 – that use its motors. However the GT XX takes things to 'a completely new level,' he told us.
AMG is also working to give the upcoming production car a unique character among EVs, with the brand experimenting with computerised engine noises that have been teased on its social media channels. In the video, a prototype of the production car we'll see next year features a bassy, V8-like growl, and Mercedes' chief technology officer Markus Schäfer has hinted this will be paired with a Hyundai Ioniq 5 N-like virtual gearbox and engine mapping system to deliver 'everything that you expect in V8, V12 or race-oriented AMG'. Advertisement - Article continues below
Speaking to Auto Express ahead of the GT XX's reveal, Schäfer acknowledged that 'bringing hardcore V8 fans to an electric vehicle is something that is definitely a challenge, and offering just a pure electric car doesn't do the job.'
As a result, this concept, and the forthcoming production model, are supposed to tell a 'great story' through the technology onboard. As Schäfer put it, 'What is this axle flux motor that I have in there? How does the car feel in terms of noise, in terms of sound level, in terms of the vibration, in terms of the gear shift? Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below
'It has to touch the emotional side of you, and if it doesn't, it doesn't do the job,' he said. 'But this is what the Mercedes-AMG cars do, and that's exactly what we transferred piece by piece into this GT XX.'
Yet high-performance electric motors are nothing without a battery pack capable of making the most of them, and in this case AMG has produced its own bespoke high-performance battery that can manage extreme and – crucially – repeatable power delivery. AMG has not released the specific capacity of the battery, or told us how much range the GT XX could offer – only that it would be 'significant'. But the creators have touted the benefits of its new tall and thin cylindrical cells, which sit within a temperature-controlled housing under the cabin floor. Advertisement - Article continues below
Another innovation is that the car's electrical system runs at 'over' 800V, beating all contemporary competition, and allows it to achieve a colossal average charging speed of 850kW – a figure that's far beyond even the most advanced chargers in the UK, futureproofing itself for battery charging infrastructure that Mercedes has ambitions of installing across Europe. These speeds are enough to add around 250 miles of range in around five minutes.
The design of the GT XX harks back to the experimental Mercedes C111, which was similarly used as a test bed for new technologies. The new car also represents the next evolution of the Vision AMG concept from 2022, and the Mercedes Vision One concept presented the year after that, with all three previewing AMG's new electric flagship that we'll finally see next year. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below
The extremely low and sleek shape will be amended slightly for production, allowing for a little more cabin space than the very tight concept. Its overall design, however, will be largely carried across, including the low-mounted grille, sleek sides, huge wheels and cut-off rear end with its six circular tail-lights.
The concept has a few flourishes – for example, the active vanes built within the wheel spokes, illuminated sills made from luminescent paint, and a dot-matrix panel between the rear lights – but AMG is adamant that all these elements are in direct development for future production models. The concept also does without any form of rear windscreen, which will change for the production model.
Inside the cabin, the concept is pared back and minimal. While AMG didn't directly confirm it, the yoke-style steering wheel is in development in combination with fly-by-wire steering, and could potentially make its first appearance on the production model. The digital set-up also looks to be pretty production-ready, with a combination of an 11.25-inch screen ahead of the driver and a 14-inch display in the centre angled towards the driver.
With its new car, Mercedes-AMG might appear to be hitting a slightly stagnant place in the market that's already occupied by cars such as the Porsche Taycan and Lotus Emeya, but the project is about much more than an expensive four-door EV. The GT XX Concept is a mission statement for the next generation of EV technology that will eventually trickle down to benefit EV development in every corner of the new-car market.
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