Geneva show: Mercedes-AMG teases four-door GT

MERCEDES-AMG has teased a four-door version of its GT halo sportscar ahead of its public reveal at the Geneva motor show this week, showing a coupe-style profile, a single central exhaust, and other unique exterior tweaks.

In a 14-second teaser video the German performance marque shows a number of darkened highlights including the headlight cluster, pronounced rear diffuser and lower front air intakes.

Door mirrors appear to have been replaced with cameras and are inscribed with the words ‘EQ power’ – the nomenclature used for Mercedes’ electrified class, which hints that the four-door GT could be a hybrid.

Mercedes has previously confirmed that it wants to move towards electrification, as demonstrated by its yet-to-be-revealed Formula 1-based Project One hypercar which teams a 1.6-litre V6 with twin electric motors for a claimed combined output of more than 745kW.

Speaking with GoAuto in 2015, Mercedes-AMG project leader Steffen Nowack said that the company had to adopt different powertrains in the future to stay ahead of the curve.

“In the future we might introduce other (powertrain) models. We have to. Today you have to think where you need to be in five or ten years time down the road,” he said.

“Look at Formula 1. You have hybrid engines that are performing in both ways (performance and efficiency).” Previously referred to as the GT4, it is unknown what powerplant might go under the concept with the most powerful hybrid set-ups in the current Mercedes range the 500e variant of the GLE and S-Class, which teams a 3.0-litre V6 to an electric battery for a 325kW/650Nm output.

Those power numbers would put the GT4 in the realm of the base-level GT, which generates 340kW/600Nm from its twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8.

The faster GT S steps it up to 375kW/650Nm, while the top-spec GT R, due here in July, punches out a muscular 430kW/700Nm from the same engine.

The most obvious non-hybrid powerplant for the GT4 would be the V8 in one of those three states of tune.

The GT4 has been hinted at previously, with Mercedes-AMG chairman Tobias Moers saying to GoAuto at last year’s New York show that the GT range would be expanded in the future.

“There is still room for other companions in our family,” he said. “Let us wait a little. By the end of the year you will know a little bit more about it.” Other visual highlights from the teaser video include two-tone copper and silver alloy wheels, 3D-effect LED tail-lights, front air intakes with vertical slats, an eye-catching single-exit exhaust and a carbon-fibre rear diffuser.

It has also managed to largely retain the profile of the coupe, with a long, sloping tail end that would pit it directly against the second-generation Porsche Panamera which landed in Australian showrooms last month.

More details on the GT4 including styling and powertrains will be revealed when the Geneva show kicks off tomorrow at 5pm local time.