By our estimations, the next Mercedes-Benz (AMG) mega-flagship hyper road car is still some ways away. Prior to its launch, though, we already know a fair amount about what the finished car will be like, and particularly that it would not deviate much from how the car made its debut in concept form last year.
Yet, Mercedes-AMG is being rather coy about the exterior on their prototype, which is undergoing tests at the German automaker’s proving ground (in the UK?) as these PR department ‘spy shots’ are showing. We also know the car is called the Project One and that it will likely be a car that borrows more from Formula 1 technology than any other in recent memory.
Within aerodynamically informed contours of its carbon fibre body lives the same Formula 1 powerplant that went into Mercedes-AMG Petronas’ racer - a screamer of a 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 that redlines at an astonishing (for the road) 11,000rpm that’s augmented by a hybrid drive unit as well.
Two electric motors supplement the racing V6 - itself capable of around 738kW - to produce a total system output of around 800kW when in its final spec, a recipe to quite possibly make the Project One the fastest road car to ever be produced. Even better, it’s even got green credentials, with its electric motor and batteries able to propel it over 25km without invoking the petrol engine.
The car won’t be alone in its quest for hypercar supremacy, though, as Aston Martin is also teaming with new partners Red Bull Racing to craft a similar F1-inspired road demon unlike anything heretofore witnessed, but using a naturally aspirated V12 over anything force-fed.
Ferrari are also plotting a successor to the LaFerrari from 2013, again utilising a familiar arsenal of a high-revving naturally aspirated V12, carbon shell, and a supplementary hybrid electric system. Should the timing coincide, the billionaires of the world will have plenty of choice yet again to own the hypercar of the moment - or all of them.
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