Everything We Know About the Mercedes-AMG GT Four Door

Mercedes-Benz will add another sedan to its already large stable of AMG performance offerings when the new AMG GT four-door arrives in 2018.

The AMG GT four-door will be a game changer when it arrives, with Mercedes looking to dethrone the current king of the performance sedans – the Porsche Panamera. The German automaker likely won’t debut it until sometime early next year, perhaps at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show in March, so let’s go over what we’ve learned about the transformative AMG four-door thus far.

SEE ALSO: Panamera-Fighting Mercedes-AMG GT4 Spied

It Will Have Up To 800 HP

Mercedes gave us a good idea of what to expect from the production AMG GT four-door with the AMG GT Concept it debuted at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show. The concept isn’t too surprising styling wise (it looks exactly like you think a four-door AMG GT might), but the powertrain is extremely radical. Consisting of a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 and an electric motor, the concept makes 805 horsepower and can accelerate from 0-60 mph in under 3 seconds, Mercedes says. This powertrain will eventually arrive in the production version, however it won’t be offered from launch. Non-hybrid versions more closely related to the AMG GT coupe will be the first to arrive, followed by the hybrid three or four years later.

It Will Have Torque Vectoring All-Wheel Drive

The hybrid AMG GT concept features a torque-vectoring all-wheel drive system that helps put the power to the pavement when accelerating and aids in handling performance. The production version of the hybrid will arrive with the same tech, but it’s not clear if the non-hybrid will as well. The E63 on which it will be based is offered with standard all-wheel drive, however making AWD optional on the sportier AMG GT four-door would be a sensible way for Mercedes to clearly differentiate between the two performance sedans. If we had to guess, we’d say RWD will be standard and AWD will be optional on non-hybrids, while the hybrid will be AWD only.

It Will Share a Platform With the New E-Class

Early speculators thought a stretched version of the AMG GT coupe’s platform would underpin the four-door, but AMG boss Tobias Moers confirmed to in an interview that wouldn’t have been feasible for rear legroom. Instead, it will share a platform with the new E-Class sedan – albeit stiffened and modified for the sportier application. That means it will ride on Mercedes’ MRA platform (Modular Rear Architecture) that also serves in the C-Class and S-Class.

It May Be Called the AMG GT 4

Earlier rumors pointed to the AMG GT four-door receiving the ‘GT 4’ moniker. This would be a bit confusing, in our opinion, as Mercedes just recently pulled the veil from its AMG GT4 racecar. The potential for consumers to confuse the two very different offerings has us thinking it will actually be called something else, but we’ll have to wait until its debut next year to find out.

The Mercedes-AMG GT four-door should debut at next year’s Geneva Motor Show before going on sale later in the year. Expect the 800 horsepower hybrid to arrive sometime in 2019 as a 2020 model year vehicle. That gives Porsche plenty of time to craft a Panamera-based response to the new super sedan, we suppose.