NEW YORK -- With Mercedes-AMG's first plug-in hybrid coming to market in the limited-edition F1-based Project One hypercar, the performance brand's chief expects to move to plug-in hybrids across the lineup over the long term.
AMG has dubbed its plug-in technology EQ Power+, and the name showed up on the AMG GT four-door concept unveiled in March at the Geneva auto show. A production version of the four-door GT is expected in 2018. That will join the production version of the mid-engine hypercar due at the end of 2018.
The GT "is the next level because the hypercar is a very dedicated layout," said Tobias Moers, chairman of Mercedes-AMG. "With the GT concept, it gives you an understanding of how we define the future of performance in our standard platforms -- in our so-to-speak more normal cars."
The production version of the GT will launch with a conventional powertrain, Moers said, but a plug-in hybrid will be "not far beyond."
And plug-ins will eventually migrate across the AMG portfolio.
"Yeah, why not? Because we are not able to change the future," Moers said. "We have to adapt to these new requirements and regulations, and we have to move forward and find new innovative solutions."
He did not offer a timetable for wide-ranging adoption of plug-ins in the lineup.
Pure electric vehicles also have a place in AMG's future, Moers said.
"I would be wrong to tell you no," he said. "I don't know when down the road. But we are not changing the future. It is going to happen."
Mercedes sold a limited number of SLS AMG Electric Drive vehicles in 2013.
