Mercedes: no AMG ‘Project Two’ hypercar planned

The Mercedes-AMG One isn’t actually at the Paris Motor Show. Weird, huh? You’re going to all that trouble to design, test and build a hypercar with a Formula One car’s hybrid turbo V6 powerplant on board, and then you don’t show it off at a major industry shindig – even after its final name has just been confirmed. Perhaps Mercedes thought it would steal focus from the new GLE and EQ C…

What we do know is future motor shows aren’t going to be graced by a Mercedes-AMG ‘Project Two’ or Three, and so on. Despite calling the new AMG hypercar 'One' (hinting it could be the start of a series as well as the current pinnacle) incoming Merc boss Ola Källenius put the kibosh on any talk of a family of hyper-Benzes.

“There are no plans [for an AMG Two] at the moment”, the imposing Swede told TopGear.com. The One is the one.

“There is no ‘Two’ in the making," he added. "One should never say never [no pun intended, we presume], but for now there is no plan.”

TG asked Källenius, currently in charge of R&D across Mercedes, if the car’s secretive development and long periods out of the spotlight meant AMG was unhappy with the car’s long gestation.

“It doesn’t feel quiet if you’re on the inside”, he said. “It’s a very, very intense engineering effort. Yes, we made a big splash and said ‘yes we’re going to do it’, but we’re taking a crazy path: an F1 powertrain in a road car.

“You have to be slightly mad to do something like that”, he continued, “but you also have to be an enthusiast, and have the passion of the people in Brixworth and in Affalterbach.” Källenius himself spent four years as boss of Mercedes High-Performance Engines in Brixworth from 2005.

He reassures us: “Now they’re into the hardcore realisation of the project. The customers are, needless to say, being kept abreast of things.”

So, while the Aston Martin Valkyrie will have some stiff competition from AMG when both cars are finished in 2019, the upcoming Aston Martin ‘Project 003’ hybrid (the mid-engined supercar) due in 2021 won’t have much to fear from Mercedes, as things stand.