Mercedes-AMG GT: 911 rival's interior revealed

Mercedes-Benz

The Mercedes-AMG GT is an all-new sports car, set to launch in autumn 2014 before going on sale in 2015. These are the first official pictures… of the interior.

Yep. That’s all you’re getting folks – Mercedes-AMG is refusing to show any other pictures of the new GT until closer to the 2014 Paris Motor Show in September. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a few more details to discuss.

The AMG GT will be smaller and less expensive than the SLS – but don’t bank on it being much slower

The new GT is set to follow in the tyre tracks of Mercedes-AMG’s previous independent effort, the SLS AMG supercar. However, the GT will not be a direct replacement for the SLS.

Instead, Mercedes is believed to be aiming a little more mainstream, and pitching the GT as a rival for cars such as the Porsche 911, Audi R8 and Aston Martin V8 Vantage (which is interesting, given Mercedes is now heavily involved with Aston as well). It might tempt Jaguar F-Type customers, too.

To this end the GT will be smaller, more manoeuvrable and less expensive than the SLS – but don’t bank on it being much slower. Although technical details have yet to be revealed, expect some kind of twin-turbo V8 petrol engine to be driving the rear wheels here.

It may be an all-new 4.0-litre unit – the same as the one expected to show up in the next-generation C63 AMG – and there’s even been talk of Mercedes-AMG maybe offering the car in four-wheel drive.

Either way, expect a paddleshift automatic gearbox with at least seven speeds, 0-62mph in under four seconds and a top speed approaching 200mph.
 

Mercedes-Benz

So what do these official interior pictures tell us?

The dashboard has something of a luxury racing car vibe about it

Well, for starters the AMG GT is going to be pretty wide – true the "wing"-like dashboard design deliberately emphasises the new sports car’s width, but look at the size of the centre console. If you’re looking to get up close and personal with your passenger this might not be the car for you.

Mercedes makes a big fuss about the quality of the materials, and we’ll just have to take its word for it at the moment. But the actual design, with those round vents and that standalone infotainment screen, reminds us more of the A-Class range than higher specification Mercs.

This is clearly the favoured style of the moment, however, rather than a statement about the GT’s integrity. Similarly, someone at Mercedes-AMG obviously can’t get enough of that air conditioning, judging by the number of vents.

The dashboard does also have something of a luxury racing car vibe about it; the inner section of the centre console is shaped like a NACA duct, around which the surrounding controls have been "arranged like eight cylinders in a V layout", apparently.

Also note what appears to be a touch-sensitive COMAND interface above the usual rotary controller.

We’ll bring you more news on the new Mercedes-AMG GT as soon as we have it.
 

On Bing: see pictures of the Mercedes-AMG GT
Find out how much a used Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG costs on Auto Trader
Read a Mercedes-Benz review on MSN Cars
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT Final Edition stars at the Tokyo Motor Show 2013

By CJ Hubbard, Motoring Research