Germany
The electric Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door almost never made it to production, according to a senior Mercedes-AMG executive cited by German outlet Manager Magazin. “This car should never have happened,” the executive reportedly said. “But it was already too late to stop.”
An expensive reversal
The remark points to how costly Mercedes’ first wave of dedicated EVs turned out to be. AMG’s electric development alone is reported to have passed $1 billion, while the wider EQS and EQE SUV family cost the company an estimated 5 billion euros (about $5.4 billion). After EQ-line sales dropped sharply, Mercedes leadership reportedly concluded that betting on a standalone electric sub-brand, visually and structurally separate from its combustion models, was a mistake.
The car ships anyway
Despite the internal doubts, the electric AMG GT is going ahead. It will be the first production model on AMG’s dedicated AMG.EA platform, carrying over technology from the GT XX concept: axial-flux motors, ultra-fast charging, and more than 1,360 hp in its highest state of tune.
The episode also marks a shift in approach. Mercedes is now designing new EVs to look and position closer to their combustion counterparts rather than as a visually distinct family, the direction the EQ lineup took. The electric AMG GT arrives as a reminder of how expensive that earlier experiment became, even as the car itself moves forward.
