Believe it or not, the futuristic Mercedes-AMG Vision Gran Turismo concept that wowed crowds at November’s Los Angeles motor show will enter production.
That’s right, the radical show car that previews AMG’s upcoming Porsche 911 Turbo rival, the GT, and which so far can only be ‘driven’ on the Playstation game Gran Turismo 6, will indeed be available to purchase following unexpectedly strong demand from the world’s high-rollers.
What’s more, it will be based on next year’s all-new Mercedes-Benz GT AMG, which will effectively replace the SLS AMG ‘Gullwing’.
There are three catches, however.
First, the car will not be built by Mercedes-AMG but J&S World Wide Holdings, a “full-service concierge company” that produces bespoke vehicles to order for a wide range of well-heeled clients around the world.
In this case it will do so on behalf of “the world’s largest luxury marketplace”, Stockholm-based JamesEdition, which sells exotic cars, private jets, yachts, exclusive watches and luxury homes via more than 1000 dealers in London, Frankfurt, Singapore, Boston and elsewhere.
Second, only five examples will be produced – one of which is already under contract – with two to be made available in both the Middle East and Europe, and the final car to be sold in the US.
Third, the full-scale version of the digital supercar will cost $US1.5 million apiece.
While the Vision Gran Turismo will share its platform with the upcoming GT AMG production car, which itself employs a cut-down version of the outgoing SLS AMG’s aluminium spaceframe, J&S says it will build the car’s entire body out of carbon-fibre, reducing its weight by at least 90kg.
That will make it even quicker than the Vision GT show car, which is powered by a 430kW/800Nm twin-turbo V8 that slams out 10kW and 150Nm more than the SLS’s 6.2-litre atmo V8, and is claimed to weigh just 1385kg, resulting is a weight-to-power ratio of just 3.2kg/kW.
According to JamesEdition, the Vision GT will also feature a custom exhaust, retractable spoiler, custom forged wheels from ADV.1 and any interior colour scheme its owner desires.
The super-exclusive, mega-expensive hyper car will only be available in one exterior paint colour, however: chromed silver.
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