Mercedes Admits The AMG One Was A Drunken Mistake

As the automotive world becomes more serious about cutting out greenhouse emissions, it is also seeing a massive battle play out between supercar manufacturers to see who can build the most powerful, fastest, and most insane cars as a send-off to the combustion engine. Some attempt to achieve this through brute force, while others use technology. Mercedes-AMG has decided to use both, but as it turns out, building a hypercar with the heart of an F1 car isn't all that easy. The Mercedes-AMG One is the German Manufacturer's most daring undertaking ever, and as the car gets ready for its reveal date, Mercedes-AMG has revealed its misgivings about the project.

According to Autocar, Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kallenius recently joked with investors that the Mercedes-Benz board must have been "drunk" when they agreed to develop the Mercedes-AMG One. "The team at AMG and the High Performance Powertrain Formula 1 arm came to us about four years ago and said 'we've got a great idea, let's put a Formula 1 engine into a road car', Kallenius told investors and members of the media in Monaco. "I will have to go back to check the meeting minutes, but I'm sure we were drunk when we said yes."

Since its inception in 2017, engineers have struggled to match the vicious performance of the AMG One's hybridized 1.6-litre V6 with strict WLTP emissions standards and it has seen numerous setbacks and delays.

The Mercedes-AMG One promises over 1,000 horsepower, all-wheel drive, a top speed of 218 mph, and a 0-124 mph time of only six seconds. According to Mercedes, only 275 of these exclusive hypercars will be built, with manufacturing starting in 2022. Those lucky enough to buy one will have to fork over 2.27 million Euros ($2,433,000). To demonstrate the difficulties AMG engineers have had with this vehicle, Mercedes will release a documentary showing the progress of the car which Kallenius said: "demonstrates that Mercedes's engagement with F1 has direct effect on the AMG brand." Once the Mercedes-AMG is sold out, we doubt that Mercedes-AMG will be taking on such a daring venture for a while, and buyers will have to settle for a regular AMG GT to get their thrills.