- Mercedes-AMG would like to develop an EV coupe, but it needs to know there's a business case for one first.
- The two-door could be built on the same AMG.EA platform as the upcoming C590 Porsche Taycan rival.
- AMG built an excellent electric coupe before, the SLS Electric Drive, so with modern tech, it would probably be brilliant even without a fake V-8.
Mercedes-AMG is on a path of electrification. It offers a wide swathe of plug-in hybrids, the most specialized and track-focused of which are the C63s E Performance and GT63 E Performance, but it’s also working on its first fully electric model, the Porsche Taycan-rivaling C590 four-door. The latter won’t be its only pure electric offering, though—there’s also an equivalent sporty SUV in the pipeline—and they could be joined by an even sportier two-door model.
Autocar has the low-down on the AMG EV coupe, which is under consideration right now, but AMG first needs to establish a business case for such a model before giving it the green light. Mercedes’ sporty arm would be very tempted to make something like an electric equivalent for today’s AMG GT, but it won’t happen if the manufacturer can’t justify investing in its development. It first needs to know whether such a car would sell.
Mercedes-AMG boss Michael Scheibe said “There is an emotional discussion and a rational discussion. Emotionally, yes, we should do that. The question is whether there is a market that is big enough to justify the investment that is necessary. At least from a technology point of view, we know how to do that.”
There’s no clear time frame for when such a model could debut, though. Scheibe noted that “We are at the moment trying to understand what's going on in the market. And then we define the target picture of that very specific car.” He reaffirmed the brand’s near-future focus on keeping combustion in its lineup, “So we will focus on that first, and then let's see when the right point and time is there to launch a two-door EV.”
AMG could also make a hot electric coupe as a showcase of what its electric powertrain tech is capable of when pushed to the extreme—an EV halo car. That would make sense since the shift to electrification, whatever the exact time frame is, is still inevitable, and the brand still sees itself transitioning to fully electric power sooner or later. On this point, Scheibe admits that “Sometimes you make a car which is not the most profitable one, but you do it because it's so important for the brand, and you need to do it because it's a brand-shaper.”
It wouldn’t be the first time Mercedes built a bonkers electric coupe, though. The first one it made was the SLS Electric Drive, which was a brilliant quad-motor monster that even impressed EV hater Jeremy Clarkson. It packed 740 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque, and it had advanced torque vectoring that made it very exciting through the corners, all without the savage bark of the standard SLS’s albeit brilliant naturally-aspirated V-8.
So Mercedes proved that it could make a thrilling two-door EV over 10 years ago, so imagine what it could do with today’s technology. EV tech has advanced considerably in all areas, from batteries to motors to electronics, so if AMG really tried to make a modern equivalent of the SLS ED, it would probably be brilliant, and a whole lot more powerful. Like the upcoming C590, it could also get a faux V-8 with pretend gears to please combustion engine lovers, but frankly, it probably wouldn’t need one to enthrall keen drivers.
