AMG hypercar engine only good for 50,000km

The engine in Mercedes-AMG's radical new hypercar is so delicate that it can only be driven for 50,000km before it requires rebuilding.

Codenamed AMG Project One, the vehicle will be revealed at the 2017 Frankfurt motor show later in September, but it's not clear if customers of AMG's $3.2 million engineering masterpiece – which uses an F1 engine – will have to pay for the engine refurbishment.

AMG boss Tobias Moers confirmed the berserk hypercar's 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine, which spins to an shrieking 11,000rpm, will have a finite shelf life… Just like an F1 car.

Asked if the vehicle would be reliable, Moers told motoring.com.au: "We have an understanding of about 50,000km. This is OK for us. I think that's good enough," Moers insisted.

"That's the life of the engine. Then we do some rework, like in a race car. But you don't need an F1 team, you don't need special gas [fuel]. You can push the button and it fires up."

With a pair of electric motors up front, each pumping out 120kW, the total combined powertrain output including the compact V6 turbo will be around 1000hp, or around 745kW.

Related reading: AMG confirms hypercar

Speculation has been rife that AMG cannot put a real F1 engine into a road car, but Moers says it's "100 per cent from an F1 car".

So nothing is changed between the race car and road car?

"For sure we change things," he observed. "It revs up to 11,000rpm. Which combustion engine does that? Not many.

"You have to reduce compression ratio, for emissions, you have to meet regulations. It's still 1.6 litres. The crank, it is not fully machined anymore, because we have a cast crank. The cylinder-head is cast like the F1 car as well, but it's the same thing.

"You have to change [fuel] injection levels, because formula one idle speed is not 1200rpm, its 4000rpm yeah? So you have to change things to make it feasible and street-legal. That's it."

The transmission will be an automated manual operating with a single clutch – a configuration superseded by twin-clutch layouts by most car-makers today – creating thrust troughs as the car backs off to actuate the clutch. But Moers says this won't be an issue for his magnum opus.

"It will get a ATM, an automatic manual. But that's the task for us – we can fill it up a little bit with the electric motor, because there's no dual-clutch for this. And dual-clutch is too heavy."

The radical hypercar will also use the gearbox and engine as "structural parts of the car, like F1," explained the AMG chief.

Moers confirmed the Project One will cost €2.27 million, or about $3.2 million in local currency, and Mercedes-Benz says there are 10 orders for the vehicle in Australia already, despite the fact it won't be street-legal here because it's left-hand drive.

He also confirmed only 275 of the vehicle will be built globally, and there will no extended volume run and no second vehicle spun of the high-tech bespoke platform.

"From my perspective it's only going to be one [model]. Just 275 cars. And I think that's OK. We're not doing that because of business. Starting the era of electrified powertrains we need a hero car, an icon.

"The thing is, it's not cheap, its 2.27 million Euros. I think people they want that car now. Extending the production life cycle over two or three years that's not OK. Maybe one and half years, one car per day, that's OK.

"It's a four-wheel drive, we have two individual motors on the front axle, each 120kW. We do have the turbochargers split. We do have an electric motor at the crank as well. To combine everything and give you the drivability which you expect from a car like that, this is really challenging.

"It's still a challenge to meet that in 2019."