HAMMER TIME

A megawatt of (British) power? Speakers in the headlights? The AMG GT XX promises a radical new age for muscle car Mercs...

- WORDS JASON BARLOW

Rottweil is a small town in Germany’s Black Forest with several claims to fame. You can guess the first, not least because there are sculptures of handsome but rather intimidating dogs around the place. The second is the TK elevator test tower, where engineering megacorp Thyssenkrupp stress tests its lifts. It stands 246m tall, a swirly stick of rock lording it over a sea of trees. Apparently they’re working on an elevator that can move horizontally as well as vertically. Yep, like the one in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

Back on ground level, Mercedes-AMG is showcasing its own technical wizardry. In a converted Kraftwerk (it means power station), TopGear is poring over the Concept AMG GT XX. It’s a sleek four door that presages AMG’s first standalone electric model (if we skip over 2013's SLS Electric Drive, of which only nine were made), due on sale some time next year to spearhead a gravely needed Mercedes revival.

The brand that invented the motorcar has stumbled into the electrical age with flatlining demand for its pebble smooth, EQ badged offerings. Long binned is the plan to be all electric by 2030. But a hangover from that optimistic moment underpins the GT XX. It rests on AMG’s bespoke EV platform that mixes steel, aluminium and carbon composites, and will also underpin a Ferrari Purosangue rivalling SUV and - hopefully - a new hypercar. Mercedes junked plans for another electric only platform designed purely for luxury cars so, weirdly, the GT XX is already an orphan from a bygone age when a combustion revival seemed even less likely than Elon Musk becoming uncool.