High-flier: Mercedes-AMG working on impossibly quick electric SUV with supercar-slaying performance

April 24, 2024April 23, 2024 John Mahoney 8833 Views BMW XM, electric, Lotus Eletre, Mercedes-AMG, ONE, SUV

Mercedes-AMG is well underway to developing its quickest, most advanced model yet that will give the existing Mercedes-AMG ONE hypercar King a run for its money off the line when it comes to acceleration.

According to Autocar, instead of a low-slung supercar Benz’s performance division all-new high-performance flagship will take the shape of a large SUV that will rival both the current BMW XM and Lotus Eletre, plus in the inbound Porsche K1 when it goes on sale in Australia in 2026.

Set to pump out anywhere from 746kW-1400kW from its state-of-the-art quad-motors and high-performance battery, we tip AMG’s super SUV to deliver a 0-100km/h at least two-tenths less than the incredible 2.9sec 0-100km/h the ONE hypercar can manage.

And the secret behind the AMG’s flagship SUV? Designers and engineers have thrown everything at it to ensure it has all the tech it needs to humiliate its rivals when it comes to its speed and the way it handles.

That tech includes AMG’s all-new bespoke AMG.EA architecture that’s not shared with any other core Mercedes-Benz.

It allows the performance division to introduce its latest 800-volt electrical architecture for the fastest charging, potentially at a rate of more than 400kW.

More important than even that is the AMG.EA allows engineers to package the firm’s new power-dense four disc-shaped axial flux electric motors that will offer torque vectoring well beyond conventional motors.

Combined they will produce at least 750kW with some predicting the total power output will exceed 1400kW.

Enabling it to pump out such high-power is AMG’s own high-performance battery that can discharge far higher levels of current, compared to existing technology, enabling maximum power.

Giving it the edge over rivals like the BMW XM, the new AMG SUV will feature active suspension that is a development of the same system first used on the latest AMG GT Coupe.

The system will be capable of cancelling out body roll while improving the ride and, even, off-road capability thanks to its greater axle articulation (the system deletes anti-roll bars).

One final piece of innovation is the SUV will help launch AMG’s own operating system that has been developed internally under the AMG.OS banner.

Developed alongside the next-generation AMG GT 4-door coupe, the SUV will be assembled at Benz’s Sindelfingen plant in Germany and will help spearhead the AMG’s transition to full EV.

Before both the impossibly powerful electric SUV and AMG GT 4-Door arrive, Mercedes-AMG will roll out a fast all-electric version of the next-gen Mercedes CLA small SUV.

Set to produce epic BMW M4-humbling power and super-quick charging, the AMG CLA will only be a taster of what’s to come as it has to make do with Mercedes-Benz less sophisticated MMA platform.

Stay tuned as Mercedes-AMG will soon begin teasing both the white-hot CLA and hypercar-slaying AMG GT 4-Door in the build-up to both car’s launch in 2025, with the super SUV set to land a year later in 2026.

Mercedes-AMG currently offers one battery electric SUV, the EQE 53 SUV.