Mercedes-Benz AMG GT Black Series review

It’s not limited edition, which is bound to unsettle those questioning the huge £335,000 price tag. But at least Mercedes won’t look foolish – if it doesn’t sell in huge numbers they won’t have a glut of unsold cars, and if it does sell well, then the car has proofed itself against the market and found its level.

But it is a dissuadingly huge amount of money. OK, options here won’t drive the cost up nearly as much as with the McLaren 765LT, and it is a huge step on from every other GT supercar in the range. I suspect they’ll find homes not because of how they drive, but for two much more prosaic reasons: one, it looks awesome and two, they don’t make a Black Series very often.

They tend to come along in small groups. After the SLK in 2006, a CLK 63 Black and SL 65 Black appeared in short order, then in 2012-13 we had another CLK Black, plus the SLS. Now just the GT? If Merc is intent on putting this much effort into a Black, then yes, probably. And given the shift to hybrid and rumours of the AMG V8 being wound down, where will the Black Series badge appear next? Will it appear at all?

On to plainer things. This won’t be available through a standard lease deal, and with emissions of 292g/km and economy of 22.1mpg, plus no trace of hybrid assistance, it’s not going to please Extinction Rebellion. But then not much does. The drag factor is 0.42Cd, which would have been much worse, apparently, if they’d stuck a gurney flap on the rear wing. More downforce, but also too much drag.