► The new Merc-AMG sports car revealed
► A hard-top SL with a hairy chest
► Your essential sports car briefing
You’re looking at the next Mercedes AMG GT, snapped by our spy photographers months before you’re supposed to see it. Due to be revealed later this year, it’ll sit atop Affalterbach’s range – and will be pitched as a hardtop-only, hardcore version of the Mercedes SL convertible.
The two protypes pictures feature a decent amount of camouflage, but reveal the next GT to be an evolution of the current car. The GT keeps the same Panamerica-style grille slats and seems to combine than with sharper headlights and the same swooping roof line. Not one but two cars are pictured here; a red prototype and a gray car with a fix rear wing – which appears to be a plug-in hybrid.
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How we do we know? A closer look at the picture below reveals a charger port below the right rear light, which suggests it’s a GT S E Performance model capable of around 800+ bhp.
The new 2023 Mercedes-AMG GT: what else to expect
The follow-up effort to the current GT has a less radical philosophy: AWD instead of transaxle, four-cylinder base engine instead of V8, active anti-roll bars and AMG Ride Control suspension instead of a coilover steel set-up with drift-o-meter. More accessible, perhaps. As involving? We’ll see. Just as the new SL is not as sharp-edged and uncompromising as the GT roadster, the coupe won’t feel like a toned-down GT R.
The core engine is a 2.0-litre four boosted by electrically assisted turbochargers and a 48-volt mild-hybrid system, which in the SL43 makes 375bhp. Straight-sixes will also fit, and we’ve spotted a plug-in hybrid model too.
Despite bespoke grille graphics, a slightly wider track and lowered suspension, GT and SL are virtually identical from the nose to the A-posts. The lightweight roof is of course all-new, and so are the side view and the curvy rear end, which looks even more 911-like than the SL.
Two seats only
Like the rear-engined Porsche, which holds tight to the token 2+2 layout, the AMG GT can also be offered with two additional seats.
The cabin is pure SL, complete with the large central screen and the densely populated five-spoke steering-wheel. For the GT the cabin will get more generously adjustable seats, more elaborate trim configurations… and of course a made-to-measure luggage set.
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