GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Four-door AMG GT teased again

The teaser campaign for Mercedes-AMG’s first in-house sedan – and its third dedicated model after the SLS and GT coupes – continues in the lead-up to the world debut of the four-door AMG GT ‘coupe’ in Geneva on March 6.

Following the first official images last week, AMG has now released a series of fresh images of the sleek new sedan in testing on a racetrack and public roads – this time a black pre-production model with yellow ‘flames’.

Almost simultaneously, however, we received spy shots of the same vehicle that also show the AMG GT four-door’s full side profile, plus a front three-quarter view that reveals one of the key models against which it was benchmarked, the Porsche Panamera.

What’s still unclear, though, is exactly what the AMG GT sedan will be called, with ‘GT4’ scotched and Mercedes-AMG now referring to it in press releases as both the ‘4-door Coupe’ and ‘four-door AMG GT’.

“From the Affalterbach site to country roads, in the city and on the race track -- developers from Affalterbach are testing the new member of the AMG GT family in the most diverse conditions,” said Mercedes-AMG in its latest release.

“The four-door AMG GT is already demonstrating its versatility. AMG's third in-house development will be celebrating its world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show on March 6th.”

As we’ve reported, the third member of AMG’s GT family in fundamentally unrelated to the two-seat GT Coupe and Roadster, which donate their twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 but not their bespoke rear transaxle platform.

Instead, the four-door AMG GT is based on a reworked version of the platform underneath the latest E-Class sedan and new CLS ‘coupe’ four-doors.

Like the upcoming CLS, the four- and five-seat GT will be a rival for big four-door ‘coupes’ like the Panamera, Audi A7, BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe and Maserati Quattroporte.

But while the third-generation CLS will offer five seats and be available 350d, 400d, 450 and (hybrid) AMG 53 guises, for the first time it won’t come with a V8.

Meantime, unlike the existing AMG GT coupe and convertible models -- which wear GT, GTS and S badges – the GT sedan will come in 53 and 63 forms.

Apart from its straight-six petrol-electric ’53’ powertrain, the GT sedan will be offered in full-blown twin-turbo V8 ’63’ form.

Naturally, the GT sedan will launch in top-shelf 63 guise and it’s expected to belt out around 450kW and 850Nm, but the high-tech GT 53 hybrid could develop up to 600kW of power and propel the car to 100km/h in less than three seconds.

The Affalterbach-based brand says it will be the first-ever high-performance hybrid from AMG, and the new four-door GT will also be available with 4MATIC+ all-wheel drive.

Mercedes-AMG will also use next month’s Geneva show to reveal its facelifted C-Class range, likely including an upgraded C 63 Coupe (also pictured here in spy shots).