Mercedes-AMG GT four-door won't be hybrid… at first

Under the bright lights of the 2017 Geneva motor show, Mercedes-Benz global boss Dieter Zetsche touted the new 600kW Mercedes-AMG GT Concept as the "first-ever performance hybrid by AMG".

The hard-core hybrid concept car is an all-wheel drive behemoth that rockets from 0-100km/h in under 3.0 seconds flat.

It's a wild concept car, make no mistake.

But the production car won't be offered with an electric boost initially, motoring.com.au has learned, and likely won't offer the incendiary performance promised by the concept vehicle.

The first production versions of the four-door AMG GT models will arrive in Europe in 2018 and shortly after in Australia, and will be propelled solely by the company's raucous 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8.

"That car is coming into the market next year [2018], not in the beginning as a performance hybrid, because we still have things to do and develop and engineer," admitted Tobias Moers, head of Mercedes-AMG.

He explained that the battery system used on future AMG hybrids will developed in-house and specifically tailored to AMG models. The new hybrid system will be more about boosting performance than making the car a muesli-munching hippie.

"It should be a different battery. We're not chasing a long range hybrid. We know we need a certain range, pure electric range, but a battery in a performance hybrid is different," he said.

"If you run a performance hybrid you put more power in and pull more power out. This gives you different heat treatment to the [battery] cells, and this needs a different cooling system. So it's got to be a battery developed and engineered by us, by AMG."

So just to clarify, no hybrid to begin with? "Not in the very beginning. But we always deliver what we promise," stated Moers.

No hybrid? No worries
But even without an electric motor adding extra herbs, the first release of the four-door AMG GT will be scary fast.

Moers revealed that the new four-door GT performance car is based on a modified version of the E-Class platform and will likely get a similar 4.0-litre V8 tune to the AMG E 63.

That car is currently maxxed-out at a stupefying 450kW/850Nm, and romps to 100km/h from standstill in around 3.5 seconds.

Asked if the new AMG cruise missile will get the highest output thus far from the company's twin0-turbo V8, Moers simply smiled and stated: "Too early to talk about it."

Either way, expect similar figures of around 450kW from the non-hybrid version of the AMG GT four-door slammer.

Celebrating AMG's 50th anniversary, the new four-door AMG GT lets the company play in a new segment, and Moers said it's bench-marked all the rivals, including the Porsche Panamera.

The vehicle is expected to attract plenty of attention when it arrives In Australia as an alternative to vehicle such as the Benz S-Class and Porsche Panamera. And with AMG vehicles accounting for up to 20 per cent of total monthly Mercedes sales Down Under, it's likely to make a significant impact on the top end of town.

Other details confirmed by Moers include the vehicle's seating layout, which may not strictly be a 2+2. "It can be five or four [seats]" said the AMG chief.

The bahnstorming behemoth also makes use of the company's 4MATIC+ all-wheel drive system from the E 63, a vehicle which features a handy-dandy drift mode.

And yep, you guessed it, the petrol-head AMG boss is keeping that function for the four-door AMG GT too.

"Why keep something away which is good? Yeah, that's fun."