The GT 63 S E Performance is one the most powerful combustion-engined cars in production today, a plug-in monster with approximately 1,084 pound-feet (1,470 Nm) of torque on tap. Inspired by the championship-winning Formula 1 car that dominated the series from 2014 to 2021, the weirdly named 4-Door Coupe is joined at the hip to the ONE hypercar.
Jochen Hermann, chief technical officer at Mercedes-AMG, says that a lot of tech from the ONE went into the GT 63 S E Performance, starting with the battery pack, which features twice the power density of conventional batteries. “It’s the same idea, the same software strategy, the deployment strategy, what do we do with the energy while braking, while boosting.”
Hermann further highlights that both cars feature an electric mode, “but it’s not the range that we were focusing on.” More specifically, the lightweight battery inspired by the one that Mercedes-AMG uses in Formula 1 allows for 12 kilometers (7 miles) of zero-emission driving. The ONE, which is quite a bit lighter, musters a little bit more than 18 kilometers (11 miles).
The featured clip begins with Jochen driving the ONE in Abu Dhabi, at the Yas Marina Circuit that hosts the final round of the Formula 1 World Championship. He parks the car in front of a pit box, where a red-painted GT 63 S E Performance is much obliged to strike a pose next to its lighter sibling. The cars are then pictured on the streets of Abu Dhabi, but curiously enough, only the high-revving V6 of the ONE is heard in these scenes.
For all that lyrical waxing, the chief technical officer of Mercedes-AMG could have also mentioned the 3.7-kWh onboard charger of these cars. By comparison, the Tesla Model S Plaid can accept 250 kW for five minutes.
Criticism aside, why should Mercedes-AMG even bother with a faster unit? To the point, battery capacities of 6.1 and 8.4 kWh don’t actually call for the latest and the greatest charger the automotive industry has to offer.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News