The Mercedes-Benz AMG GT EV is an incredibly fast car. It makes more than 1,100 horsepower, or it can go more than 430 miles on a charge. It can even hit 186 mph flat out, making it one of the fastest EVs around. Of course, there are all kinds of performance enthusiasts who don’t give a rip how fast an EV is. If it doesn’t have an engine, it doesn’t matter.
Apparently, that sentiment may not be limited to enthusiasts outside the halls of Mercedes-Benz headquarters. In fact, some company executives might be rather cross that an EV dares to wear AMG GT badges.
Execs And Management Aren’t Happy With The Hyper-Electric
2027 Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupe electric yellow dynamicMercedes-Benz
In a new report from German business publication Manager Magazin (via The Autopian), several unnamed executives have been very vocal speaking out about the current state of Mercedes-Benz EVs and of the AMG GT. At least one wasn’t pulling punches, and reportedly said that the AMG GT EV “shouldn’t even exist.”
Some parts of the company didn’t want to continue development of the car. However, “it was too late to stop it,” per the report. The car was well underway, and sometimes the only way around a problem is through it. Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius was all-in on electric vehicles for quite some time, but he didn’t quite get the Tesla results he wanted. Instead of Model 3 (or even S) sales, the EQS and EQE sedans and SUVs got Cybertruck-like results.
According to the report, that enthusiasm came to a brutal end late in 2023. The company board met to review their plans, and couldn’t help but notice that sales of the EVs had dropped 90%. The company had spent more than 5 billion euros on creating the EQS and EQE families, and more on manufacturing and marketing. “It was clear then that these cars were the biggest failures in the company’s history,” said one board member who was at the meeting. The company started reinvesting big on ICE at the time.
Benz Has Learned From Its Early Electric Ways
Even if the AMG GT EV should have been axed long before now, Mercedes-Benz appears to have learned from the mistakes it made with the EQ models. And from the successes at BMW. While Mercedes-Benz developed EVs that looked like EVs, including giving them names that conflicted with company tradition and other models, BMW just made EVs. The i4 was a success, as was the i7. Now BMW is building EVs with a new look, but its gas models will get that same new look. Plus, it’s an improvement over the company’s existing design.
The first of Benz’s new generation of EVs was the CLA. It looked more like a conventional Mercedes-Benz, and it will be sold with a gas engine as well. It also delivers nearly 400 miles of range, which is an astounding figure for its size and price.
Now more are coming, and the company’s sales aren’t disastrous. It’s going to take a while for Källenius to redeem himself and refill the coffers, but there are already strong signs. Group EV sales were up 51% in the second quarter versus last year, moving 63,000 units. Perhaps more impressive, 26% of all Mercedes vehicles sold in Europe in the quarter were electric.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
Yasa axial flux motors vs. radial flux motorsMercedes-Benz/Yasa
Knowing the AMG GT 4-Door EV is hated inside the company makes it unlikely the company will do much in the way of special editions. The car, though, is more about the tech than about sales figures. It’s the axial flux motors and battery tech that were developed for it that will drive future fast Mercedes-Benz and AMG EVs, and the GT paints a very positive picture for those cars.
Source: Manager Magazin via The Autopian
