PARIS MOTOR SHOW: Mercedes-AMG hypercar confirmed

German prestige car-maker Mercedes-AMG is diving head-first into the hypercar segment, seeking to leverage its dominance of the Formula 1 championship in spectacular style.

Mercedes-Benz research and development supremo, Thomas Weber, delivered the surprise announcement at an event on the eve of the glamorous Paris motor show, confirming that development of a hard-core tyre-shredding road car, heavily inspired by its F1 race car technology, is all systems go.

"I am very excited to officially confirm our next big thing at AMG is already in the pipeline. We are going to create an AMG performance hybrid featuring our Formula 1 drivetrain technology."

Although no details have been confirmed, the new car is understood to be powered by a mid-mounted turbo V6 petrol-electric hybrid powertrain, though whether it will rev to 15,000rpm or have a 1.6-litre capacity like the F1 car remains to be seen.

It would be a tough ask to get an F1-style gearbox and powertrain reliable enough for the road while pumping out 1000hp or 745kW, but Weber says it's not impossible and that the F1 racing team is heavily involved in the project.

"If you have the right experts on board, and that's what you see every two weeks [in F1], I believe it's possible. Not for everybody, but we will do it."

With deep ties to F1, the new AMG hypercar will no doubt pique the interest of Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing, rivals on and off the track, as it readies its $5 million AM-RB 001 road-legal race car for 2019.

The Benz R&D boss wouldn’t say how long the bonkers Benz has been in development, and was coy about whether it will be a direct competitor for Aston Martin's mind-melting collaboration with Red Bull Racing.

"We would do something really spectacular. A combination of AMG and F1 is something that is not there on the streets so far.

"Fast will be important, high-tech will be important, spectacular will be important," he stated when talk turned to the AM-RB 001.

"Under the lead of AMG, our performance companies will join forces and create the most efficient and the best performing and most spectacular AMG of all time. Some might even call it a hypercar."

Weber wouldn’t say whether the new hypercar will be limited in volume, as is the case with most hypercars, or when we'll see it, but it's understood the production car will be ready to roll in a couple of years, by 2018 at the very earliest.

Current F1 drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are being consulted on the new road car and when asked if they had driven a prototype yet, Weber was evasive.

"We cannot say yet, because if we answer that question you could guess where we are [in the development cycle]."

Lewis Hamilton has previously stated his desire to help develop a hard-core road car.

In terms of the design, the high-tech AMG will be heavily influenced by wind tunnel testing and is expected to take advantage of active aerodynamics.

"You saw the sketch -- that's exactly how it will look like!" grinned Weber.