The first official image of Mercedes' Formula 1 derived hypercar has arrived, alongside a promise that it will create "benchmark driving pleasure."
The new year may be less than a week old, but 2017 is already shaping up to be the year of the 1000hp hypercar.
McLaren is readying the BP23, Aston Martin is getting ready to officially showcase its AM-RB 001 and now Mercedes has confirmed the time and place where its own hyper powerful, hyper exclusive car is set to make its public debut.
It will be the star attraction on its stand at the 2017 Frankfurt motor show on September 12.
Mercedes-Benz first revealed its plans to build a hypercar at the 2016 Paris Motor Show and said that the model would act as a showcase for its Formula 1 racing expertise.
And, considering that the Mercedes AMG Petronas team has clinched not just the driver's but also the constructor's championship for the last three years running, that news alone was enough to get well-heeled drivers' attention.
The car is being built to mark AMG's 50th anniversary. The company started out as an independent engineering and tuning firm specializing in Mercedes improvements but is now very much a part of Mercedes, and since 1999, the AMG badge on a Mercedes has signified that it's the most powerful and the fastest car in the range.
In terms of the hypercar's performance, Mercedes has confirmed that the car is going to use the same engine and engineering technology found in its F1 cars -- a tiny 1.6-liter V6 engine that uses hybrid energy recuperation and turbocharging to deliver over 1000hp. What's more, it will use the same construction techniques and composite lightweight materials for optimum power-to-weight ratio and handling.
As for availability, though the car will debut in Frankfurt, it isn't expected to go officially on sale until early 2018 and it will do so with a price tag of around €3 million. However, though that outlay seems huge, it's likely to go up in value very quickly. Mercedes only intends to build between 200 and 300 examples.
