Mercedes-AMG ONE is a unicorn that will never be repeated

More than five years after the stunning Project One concept previewed it at the 2017 Frankfurt motor show, the first Mercedes-AMG ONE hypercars are finally being delivered to customers – including eight in Australia – who will acquire one of the most collectible production vehicles of all time.

The sold-out two-seat intercontinental ballistic autobahn missiles cost $5 million each but are expected to significantly increase in value not only due to their rarity, given just 275 vehicles will be built, but also because they represent both the pinnacle and the end of the combustion engine era.

It’s a big call to name something a unicorn, an anomalous freak of nature that defies logic and potentially even physics, but that’s precisely how Mercedes-Benz sees the AMG ONE.

“It's the most special car we ever we ever realised with AMG and our partners from Formula 1,” said Mercedes-AMG director of vehicle development, Steffen Jastrow.

During the launch of another polarising vehicle, the four-cylinder 500kW Mercedes-AMG C 63 S E sports sedan, the AMG vehicle development chief told carsales the ONE is a one-off that will never be repeated.

“I think that’s the one-timer and it was hard enough [to build] and I was responsible for that car. I think no, there will be no successor. Not in the definition we have right now,” he stated.

The ludicrous road-legal AMG ONE has few direct rivals except perhaps the Aston Martin Valkyrie and, like that vehicle, was beset by development delays due to the complexity of the project and the fact that stricter WLTP emissions regulations forced a powertrain rethink part-way through development.

Augmented by four electric motors, its 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol V6 is based on Mercedes-AMG’s 2016 world championship-winning F1 W07 race car engine and generates 746kW or roughly 1000hp.

The incendiary Mercedes-AMG ONE, which features active aero to reach 350km/h and has smashed the Nurburgring lap record for production cars, will go down in history as the only street-legal car with an F1-derived powerplant.

And that was after the high-revving, ultra-compact V6 had its rev ceiling reduced from 11,000rpm to increase durability; former AMG and Aston Martin boss Tobias Moers said the screaming six-cylinder engine would require a full rebuild every 50,000km.

The Mercedes-AMG vehicle development boss reiterated previous comments from colleagues that confirmed an AMG ONE sequel will arrive in due course, but that it will likely be fully electric.

“I wouldn’t say we will never have a new hypercar, but there are no plans for that yet. But I think a hypercar based on the Formula 1 powertrain? I think that's no chance,” said Jastrow.

“I think if you want to have in the future somebody, not just AMG or Mercedes, who can bring a Formula 1 engine to a production car, I think this is the one time – the one moment we've chosen to do that,” he said, suggesting CO2 rules would make such a vehicle impossible in future.

Jastrow agreed that the concept of an electric hypercar would be an easier project to oversee than petrol-electric hybrid said in-wheel motors could be on the table.

“I think probably yes. I think Euro 7 regulations, that's definitely finished [the ability] to bring a combustion-based powertrain from Formula 1 through street-legal emission certification.

“Yeah, I would say in a full electric world it’s easier to certify a hypercar.”

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