Is This the Mercedes-AMG E63 All-Terrain? Prototype Spotted in the US

Mercedes-AMG aficionados are just as puzzled as before - sure, Affalterbach might have announced that the Wagon incarnation of the 2018 E63 is coming to America, but the (apparently) heftier ground clearance and the fat fenders of the prototype raise plenty of questions. And we'll tip our keyboards to GTBoard for this spy pic.

Now, we see two potential purposes for the now-international testing process of this devilish family machine.

For one thing, we could be looking at the Mercedes-AMG E63 All-Terrain. Seeing the German engineers mixing the 600+ hp might of the new E-Class range-topper with the go-anywhere abilities of the All-Terrain would make us jump for joy. The resulting monster would also make for an awesome super-SUV alternative and, with the genre growing stronger every year, such a proposal would be more than welcome.

Nevertheless, the rumor mill claims this could be a test mule for an upcoming hybrid powertrain, one that would be destined for the Mercedes-AMG GT Four-Door.

We'll remind you that the concept for the machine packed a gas-electric setup delivering north of 800 ponies. And the production model, which we've recently spied, is expected to get a range-topper that will mix Mercedes-AMG's 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 with an electric motor, delivering at least 700 horses.

There's also an older rumor that labels this prototype as the Mercedes-AMG E63 Wagon Black Series. Nevertheless, given the two-door only formula that has defined each Black Series model we've seen so far, we wouldn't put too much trust in this forum talk.

Regardless of where the production part of this story happens to go, we've brought along a video showing just how brutish this wagon can get when lapping the Nurburgring.