At this year's Geneva Motor Show, Mercedes-AMG gave us a taste of its future. Despite many techno-futuristic design cues, and an advanced hybrid powertrain, the Mercedes-AMG GT Showcar concept previews a four-door that'll hit production. Very soon, according to AMG head Tobias Moers.
In an interview with Road & Track, Moers confirmed that a four-door AMG GT will go into production next year, albeit, without the concept car's high-tech hybrid system. While this four-door will join the two-door AMG GT family, it won't used a stretched version of that car's platform.
"That's not going to be
feasible for rear legroom," said Moers. "It's based on the E-Class, the
E63 platform, modified. It's not the same but it's just the floor.
Everything else will be different."
Most
of the hardware changes to the E-Class platform will be done in the
name of improving stiffness, per Moers. He's extra-focused on making
sure AMG's four-door has as strong a chassis as possible.
The
805-hp hybrid drivetrain, with a twin-turbo V8 and electric motors at
each front wheel, isn't quite ready for primetime, though. Moers says
this type of drivetrain will arrive in an AMG production car in "three
or four years."
"That's not going to be
feasible for rear legroom," said Moers. "It's based on the E-Class, the
E63 platform, modified. It's not the same but it's just the floor.
Everything else will be different."
Most
of the hardware changes to the E-Class platform will be done in the
name of improving stiffness, per Moers. He's extra-focused on making
sure AMG's four-door has as strong a chassis as possible.
The
805-hp hybrid drivetrain, with a twin-turbo V8 and electric motors at
each front wheel, isn't quite ready for primetime, though. Moers says
this type of drivetrain will arrive in an AMG production car in "three
or four years."
"Expect with the GT
four-door, all the technical aspects which you can have in our two-doors
coming out of the GT R," says Moers.
When we asked Moers if that meant definitively that the four-door was rear-wheel drive, he said simply "everything's included."
Far
from a confirmation, but hardly a denial either. Considering the AMG
E63 and the GT four-door will be similarly sized, rear-wheel drive would
be a good differentiator between the two as well.
We'll find out for sure what AMG has in store next year.