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Mercedes-Benz COO All but Confirms Future AMG Rival for the Tesla Roadster

This year's IAA Mobility Show in Munich brought a very important moment for Daimler's performance brand: Mercedes-AMG presented its first-ever all-electric model, the EQS 53 4MATIC+.
Mercedes-AMG Style rendering 8 photos
Photo: Adib Yousefshahi via Behance
Mercedes-AMG Style renderingMercedes-AMG Style renderingMercedes-AMG Style renderingMercedes-AMG Style renderingMercedes-AMG Style renderingMercedes-AMG Style renderingMercedes-AMG Style rendering
Actually, it was only earlier this month that Mercedes-AMG got its first serious hybrid model (a plug-in hybrid, to be exact), the oddly named GT 63 S E Performance. By getting a 204-hp electric motor to go with its 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8, the large sedan became the most powerful production AMG model of all time thanks to a combined output of 843 hp, suggesting electrification isn't that bad after all.

However, using a motor to boost the power of a V8 engine and having the gas-burner removed altogether are two completely different things for any AMG enthusiast. Let's not forget this is a brand whose fame has been built on two things: great performance and very loud engines and exhausts.

Porsche and Tesla, among others, have proven that electric powertrains have no problem going hand-in-hand with on-road and even on-track performance but, no matter what you do, you can't make an electric motor have the same emotional impact as the sound of a V8 has on its own.

How is Mercedes-AMG going to solve this problem? They probably won't, and that's OK because they won't have to, either. When no other manufacturer on the market offers ICE-powered cars of any sort, talking about engine sound kind of becomes a moot point. The focus will naturally turn on something else, and all AMG has to do is make sure they'll deliver on whatever it is that will become relevant then.

The one thing that's becoming quite obvious is that AMG is taking the electrification progress quite seriously. In a recent talk with British publication Top Gear, Mercedes-Benz Cars Chief Operating Officer (COO), Markus Schäfer, opened up about the plans for the brand's future singling out one particular body style.

When you think about AMG and turning AMG into an electric brand, we will definitely think about a cabriolet as well,” Schäfer said. “We have to put our thinking caps on and engineer an EV in the form of a roadster,” he went on, highlighting the difficulties of designing an open-top EV as well as the low market demand for convertibles in general.

If AMG does put out a cabriolet sports car, there will be no place to hide – it'll have to go head-to-head with Tesla's Roadster. The only question now is which of the two will be the first to come to market. It may look as though Tesla has a considerable head start, but they also has a reputation for pushing back new releases, so it's almost fifty-fifty at this moment.
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Editor's note: Mercedes-AMG Style rendering by Adib Yousefshahi used solely for illustrative purposes.

About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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