AMG’s official customer magazine has published a few more arty snapshots of the forthcoming Mercedes-AMG GT sports car – the 2015 rival to the Porsche 911.
The luminous green and black tiger-striped GT was photographed in the Driving Performance e-magazine, which promotes AMGs to high-octane customers.
The new 2015 Mercedes-AMG GT carries on where the SLS left off; it’s a cheaper, smaller sports car which will arrive first as a coupe.
But the GT will use much of the aluminium know-how of the SLS and we are expecting a kerbweight a shade under 1400kg; that’s around 300 kilos lighter than an SLS.
Mercedes-AMG GT: the first details
Daimler is due to unveil the new GT later in 2014, ahead of a 2015 showroom launch. Prices are tipped to start at around £85,000 – pitching it into battle squared up against the likes of the Porsche 911 and Jaguar F-type coupes.
Power on the launch model will be pegged at 503bhp from the V8 engine mounted under that long, long bonnet.
This is a new Merc 4.0-litre V8, not AMG’s venerable 6.2 which has powered a generation of hooligan AMG models. And, yes, it too has succumbed to forced aspiration – the AMG GT is a bi-turbo affair.
Daimler has now confirmed that the 4.0 V8 will develop 503bhp at 6250rpm and 479lb ft of torque on a flat plateau all the way from 1750-4750rpm.
While we might worry about the loss of a high-revving hero providing the fireworks, one spin-off advantage of using two turbos is that it’s much easier to make higher-powered versions; AMG is already plotting harder, faster Black Series ones anticipated to nudge nearer 600bhp, according to CAR’s sources at Mercedes-Benz.
Inside the Merc AMG GT coupe
Although the exterior remains under wraps (sort of) until later in 2015, theinterior of the AMG GT has been shown already.
The last two photos reveal a cabin that takes a chapter from the SLS’s cockpit (snug, sports car layout, long-bonnet view out of the windscreen) and hints of the latest C-class (that tablet computer digital screen, more modern minor switchgear).
And check out the brazen AMG embossed leather central armrest: a huge advert for Affalterbach, the spiritual home of AMG. If brand is king nowadays, Mercedes is keen to make sure it plays its ace cards with confidence.