Mercedes-AMG One finally goes into production
We can also agree that the Mercedes-AMG One has been long coming after the German carmaker showcased it in its full concept glory in 2017 and debuted the production-ready model in June 2022.
In case you were wondering what took the brand so long, the hypercar was delayed because its engine couldn’t meet tight emissions and noise regulations. Finally, Mercedes-AMG has announced that its One plug-in hybrid hypercar is now going into production in Coventry, UK.
Based on the Formula 1 powertrain, the hybrid 1.6-litre V6 turbo powerplant is built separately by the folks at Mercedes-AMG High-Performance Powertrains in England. These are the same experts who develop and produce power units for the F1 racing vehicles.
With production completed by hand, Mercedes-AMG has worked with manufacturing partner, Multimatic, to put together a small series production facility that consists of 16 assembly and testing stations.
More than 50 people are responsible for building one Mercedes-AMG One model and after each station, in-depth quality checks are done resulting in extensive documentation of the production process.
The final stages see the Mercedes-AMG One undergoing the acceptance testing by a factory test driver and if approval is given, the hypercar is provided with the required transport protection and transported to Affalterbach, the headquarters of AMG, where the handover of the vehicle will take place.
Underneath its carbon fibre skin settles the same 1.6-litre turbocharged V8 hybrid engine that powered the 2015 Mercedes F1 W06 racer paired with electric motors. The whole setup sees the hypercar generating 782 kW of serious power while screaming all the way to the 11,000 r/min mark.
The AMG One blisters from 0-100 km/h in 2.9 seconds, which is primarily impressive but what stands out for us is the seven seconds it takes to get to 200 km/h before hitting the limiter at a mind-boggling 352 km/h.
Mercedes-AMG says it’ll only build 275 units of the One, and unfortunately, all examples have already been spoken for. Pricing? Each costs roughly R39,634,322, yikes!
