800bhp Mercedes-AMG GT 73 'E-Performance' Given Early Preview With 'One' Hypercar

We were already pretty sure the incoming Mercedes-AMG GT ‘73’ 4 Door would adopt hybrid power, and now its plug-in assistance is as good as confirmed.

A partially disguised test mule appears in a photocall with Mercedes‘ new AMG logo-festooned W12 F1 car and the One hypercar. The attached press release is all about Affalterbach and the Brackley-based Merc F1 outfit “strengthening their ties,” something symbolised in the ‘E Performance’ branding shown on all three cars in the imagery.

The red, black and silver liveried GT isn’t referred to in the press release text at all, but we’re already fairly certain about its technical specs. It’ll use the same wet-sump 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 as the GT 63, with a battery and electric motor boosting the total output to around 800bhp.

The original concept that previewed the GT 4 Door was thusly arranged, and a year on from its reveal, then-AMG boss Tobias Moers confirmed a production version would happen.

It’ll need such a significant uplift in power to overcome the weight increase of its hybrid system. Mercedes likes to fit big battery packs in its plug-in hybrid models, meaning the GT 4 Door’s 2045kg kerb weight could grow by upwards of 200kg. 800bhp should do the trick, especially given that the newly updated Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid makes do with ‘just’ 690.

It’ll be AMG’s first production PHEV, and also the first of Affalterbach’s cars since the bonkers R129 SL 73 to feature that number in its name. Unlike this new GT 4 Door, the SL was named after its displacement, since under its bonnet lived a 7.3-litre V12 which was eventually lent to Pagani.