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Mercedes-AMG Project One drivetrain secrets revealed; nine cars heading Down Under

Australia is in line to receive eight Mercedes-AMG ‘Project One’ hypercars, with one example headed for New Zealand, the company has confirmed.


Speaking with CarAdvice at the weekend's Nurburgring 24 Hour, Mercedes-Benz Australia spokesperson David McCarthy confirmed the Australian arm had received 16 firm orders for the euro $2million hypercar. But, with only nine heading Down Under, seven AMG customers are set to miss out.

McCarthy added he would like to get more, but, with a limited production run of just 275 cars, all of which have reportedly been sold, securing the additional cars could be problematic.

The Project One hypercar brings Formula One technology to the road, its powertrain sourced directly from the Mercedes-AMG Formula One team. Featuring the same 1.6-litre turbocharged engine, married to four electric motors Project One is expected to produce around 735kW (1000hp).

AMG boss Tobias Moers said the aim was not to build the world’s fastest production car, but to set a “benchmark” for high performance, energy-efficient cars.

Mercedes-AMG revealed the Project One’s drivetrain to a select group of media in Nurburg, including CarAdvice, ahead of the car’s official unveiling at this year’s Frankfurt motor show.

The road-tuned spec of the Mercedes F1 engine will be rev limited to 11,000rpm, down 2500rpm on the F1-spec engine. Still, despite the rev reduction, the 1.6-litre turbocharged six-cylinder engine will pump out around 560kW (750hp).

The remaining power will come courtesy of four electric motors powered by ion lithium electric batteries. The two electric motors at the front power the front wheel directly, allowing for all-wheel drive and what the company is calling “aggressive torque vectoring”. Mercedes-AMG claims the Project One has an all-electric range of 25km.

The rear two electric motors do not power the wheels directly but instead one drives the turbocharger directly to eliminate turbo lag while the other helps power the crankshaft.

Final details of the car’s performance figures, and what it will actually look like, won’t be revealed until the Frankfurt motor show later this year.

Rob Margeit

Rob Margeit is an award-winning Australian motoring journalist and editor who has been writing about cars and motorsport for over 25 years. A former editor of Australian Auto Action, Rob’s work has also appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Wheels, Motor Magazine, Street Machine and Top Gear Australia. Rob’s current rides include a 1996 Mercedes-Benz E-Class and a 2000 Honda HR-V Sport.

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