Mercedes reveals 1169 hp and a city autopilot
It has been a busy week for Mercedes. On 16 October the group expanded its alliance with NVIDIA, on 17 October Mercedes-AMG revealed an electric GT SUV with up to 1,169 hp, and on 21 October the company announced a city driving assistant that no carmaker has yet offered in Germany. Taken together, the three press releases point the same way. The expensive car is turning into a supercar, a computer on wheels and a service you pay for after you've already bought it.
An assistant for the city
Mercedes says MB.DRIVE ASSIST PRO will be the first point-to-point city driving system in Germany to be offered by a carmaker itself. It helps with changing lanes and picking the right one, taking motorway exits and turning. At traffic lights it also assists with braking and setting off.
To be honest, 'autopilot' isn't really the right word. Legally this is SAE Level 2, so the driver remains responsible for the journey and has to keep their eyes on the road the whole time.
The car has 27 sensors: ten cameras, five radar sensors and 12 ultrasonic sensors. All of that data goes to a computer capable of up to 254 TOPS. Selected customers in Stuttgart and Munich will be the first to get the system, at the end of 2026. Orders across Germany will open in the first half of 2027.
Over-the-air update
The most interesting bit is tucked away at the end of the announcement. Eligible cars already on the road will get the assistant via an over-the-air (OTA) update, with the first month free. A free trial month usually means you'll have to pay for the feature afterwards.
For a carmaker, that's a different business model. Rather than arriving all at once in the showroom, the money is spread across the years of ownership. A car costing over €100,000 can pick up new abilities a year later without a trip to the dealer. Digital services have worked like this for a long time. An online casino, for instance, doesn't physically release a new game every few years. Its catalogue is simply updated on the server. At Spinlander Casino, for example, a new slot shows up on release day and you just open it, no download needed. Mercedes wants that logic in the car now. Owners in Stuttgart and Munich get to find out first whether it works.
The first SUV developed entirely in Affalterbach
The hardware hasn't been forgotten, though. AMG's big SUVs used to be regular Mercedes models with the AMG treatment on top. This one is different: Mercedes calls the GT SUV the first full-size SUV that Affalterbach has engineered completely on its own. Underneath is the 800-volt AMG.EA platform, and there will be three versions: GT 53, GT 55 and GT 63.
The GT 63 gets three axial-flux electric motors. They're flatter than radial-flux units and, according to AMG, more compact too. Peak output is 860 kW, hence the 1,169 hp. Continuous output, or what the motors can sustain over long periods, is noticeably lower at 530 kW. Torque stands at 2,000 Nm.
The GT 63 gets from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.7 seconds. That figure excludes rollout (the first foot of travel, which American magazines traditionally subtract from the run), so from a true standstill it will take slightly longer. If you want 270 km/h, you'll need to tick the optional Driver's Package.
11 minutes at the charger
There's a choice of two batteries, with usable capacities of 106 and 128 kWh. With the larger one, the GT 63 can cover up to 700 km on the WLTP cycle. Not bad for a car with more than 1,000 hp, although few drivers will get anywhere near that on a derestricted stretch of autobahn.
Charging is where it gets more interesting. Peak charging power is 710 kW, the battery goes from 10 to 80% in 11 to 12 minutes, and ten minutes on the plug can add up to 454 km of range. You'll only see those numbers at a charger that can actually deliver that much power, though. Most rapid chargers I've seen along the autobahn are rated somewhere between 150 and 350 kW.
From €113,050
The entry-level GT 53, with 400 kW or 544 hp, will be the first to reach customers. Orders opened on 20 October, with prices starting at €113,050. The GT 55 and GT 63 are due in spring 2027. Same platform for all three, yet the top car has well over double the entry model's power, which says a lot about how far AMG stretched it.
The NVIDIA alliance
On 16 October, the day before the AMG premiere, Mercedes-Benz and NVIDIA announced an expanded partnership. Mercedes is pairing its MB.OS with the NVIDIA Hyperion computing architecture, the Alpamayo software stack and the Halos safety system.
Further down the line, the partners are aiming for SAE Level 4, including robotaxi-style limousines. Level 4, roughly speaking, means the car handles itself in conditions spelled out in advance. Nobody has to sit at the wheel or keep an eye on traffic.
What this means for buyers
It makes for an odd picture in Germany over the coming year. The electric AMG can be ordered now, but only in entry-level form. The city driving assistant will reach owners in two cities before it appears on the price list for everyone else. And Mercedes has yet to give any timeline for the NVIDIA-based robo-limousines.
