2018 Geneva Motor Show: Mercedes-AMG GT63 S four-door coupe unleashes 470kW assault

MERCEDES-AMG has the Porsche Panamera in its crosshairs following the official reveal of its monstrous GT 4-door Coupe at the Geneva Motor Show today.

A range of three variants was announced, including an entry-level six-cylinder GT53 and two V8 versions, called the GT63 and GT63 S. The flagship GT63S boasts prodigious outputs of 470kW and 900Nm, making it the most powerful application of AMG’s venerated 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 to date.

That bragging right was formerly held by the Mercedes-Benz S63 L, which produces 450kW and 900Nm. The fiercest AMG two-door, the GTR, makes 430kW and 700Nm, which the new AMG GT63 (minus the S) matches. The GT53 produces 320kW and 520Nm from AMG’s new 3.0-litre inline six.

Blasting to 100km/h takes the GT63S a mere 3.2sec, and the GT63 3.4sec. All models feature an AMG-calibrated nine-speed automatic transmission (rather than the two-door GT’s transaxle) and fully variable “4Matic+” all-wheel drive that can send up to 100 percent of torque to the rear wheels. A rear-wheel steering set-up has also been integrated for the GT 4-door using hardware from the AMG GT R.

The new model is the first four-door vehicle developed by AMG in-house, and built on a heavily reworked and strengthened version of Mercedes-Benz’s MRA platform. The production car’s styling carries over much of the concept car’s dominant looks, but it’s the interior, unveiled today, that has raised the most eyebrows by introducing elements not before seen on any other Mercedes-Benz product, including an array of buttons with LCD screens built into them.

AMG’s new Performance steering wheel features here, with two extra programmable LCD buttons in the lower left sector, which can be set to give the driver instant access to custom functions such as the bimodal exhaust and ESP mode selector.

A manettino-style dial with an LCD in its centre sits on the lower right-hand side of the steering wheel and controls the car’s six drive modes: Slippery, Comfort, Sport, Sport+, Race and Individual. Eight other LCD buttons sit on the centre console, four on either side, in a vague nod to the car’s V8 engine. They control functions such as damper and gearbox modes, and stereo volume.

The dash is a digital widescreen affair as seen in other high-end Mercedes-Benz models, only here the GT gets a unique ‘Super Sport’ display that shows a central rev-counter and AMG-relevant information on either side that can include racetrack lap data, depending on the driver’s preferences.

Rear-seat passengers in GTs fitted with the ‘Business Console with Touchscreen’ option get a divided rear bench with heated and cooled cupholders, wireless phone charging and their own display that can adjust climate control and media settings, and monitor the behaviour of driver and car in real-time, including steering angles and pedal inputs.

"The new AMG GT 4-door Coupe combines the impressive racetrack dynamism of our two-door sports cars with a high level of day-to-day suitability, and will attract new customers to Mercedes-AMG," AMG chairman Tobias Moers said.

Though AMG refers to the new model range as the “GT 4-door Coupe”, a typical letter and number designation was chosen for each variant to avoid overlap with the GT coupes (GT, GT S, GT C and GT R) without having to include ‘4-door’ in the name of the new fastback sedans.

At least one plug-in hybrid version of the GT 4-door is expected to be added to the range with as much as 590kW on tap and a sub-3.0sec 0-100km/h sprint, however AMG representatives were tight-lipped on a high voltage version at the model’s launch.

As for what the new model means for the regular GT Coupe, a Mercedes-Benz spokesman confirmed that another facelift is coming for the two-door car, though it’s unclear how much of the the GT 4-door’s ground-breaking interior will make its way across.

Mercedes-Benz Australia expects a March 2019 arrival for the first of its four-door GT Coupes, though at this stage pricing is unknown. Given the hierarchy, the GT63S will sit somewhere in the gulf between the E63 S ($239,611) and S63 L ($375,000).