GT 4-Door Coupé (X290) 2026 AMG GT 4-Door Vision EV

[Rolf]

It’s indeed gorgeous compared to the Luce.

The Luce is an absolute joke for Ferrari. I don't think it will get many buyers, its styling is just too ugly and a dog's breakfast. For the price of $640K you can get a combination of so many other nicer looking cars just as capable and quick.

 

[Design FIRST]

The styling is indeed controversial, but I think in a good way, this car doesn't look like anything else on the road and also brings in some new styling elements for future Mercedes models.

It arguably "has potential". Provided that exorbitant funds are at one's disposal, Manufaktur will be in the position to "modify and personalize" a great deal.

 

[klier]

this car doesn't look like anything else on the road and also brings in some new styling elements for future Mercedes models.

No it won't. It's dead end design yet again.
Apart from the star, there's absolutely zero Mercedes DNA to be found in this design. Inside out.

The Luce managed to make it look less horrible though, I'll give 'em that. But both are jokes of the highest order.

It arguably "has potential". Provided that exorbitant funds are at one's disposal, Manufaktur will be in the position to "modify and personalize" a great deal.

What? They do different colors and better leather. That's not going to move the needle in any way.
They're not going to modify your car.

 

[Design FIRST]

What? They do different colors and better leather. That's not going to move the needle in any way.
They're not going to modify your car.

Not quite accurate.

A sub-division of Manufaktur indeed offers a service often referred to as "Vision Unikate". Bespoke one-offs in which the catalogue of modification is nearly limitless, provided that all modifications are regulation compliant.

 

[Rolf]

No it won't. It's dead end design yet again.
Apart from the star, there's absolutely zero Mercedes DNA to be found in this design. Inside out.

The Luce managed to make it look less horrible though, I'll give 'em that. But both are jokes of the highest order.



What? They do different colors and better leather. That's not going to move the needle in any way.
They're not going to modify your car.

The Manufaktur modifications are mostly exterior colour options and interior leather and trim colour changes at the moment. Who knows in future it will include more things like carbon fiber exterior panels etc. A bit like Brabus but toned down a bit.

 

[martinbo]

The Luce managed to make it look less horrible though, I'll give 'em that. But both are jokes of the highest order.

Can you imagine that it was a Ferrari of all things that managed to make this AMG GT EV the second ugliest car to be launched this year?
What a weird year. 2026 - the year of the horse(shit).

 

[Design FIRST]

The Manufaktur modifications are mostly exterior colour options and interior leather and trim colour changes at the moment.

 

[klier]

Show us one of your bespoke manufaktur modifications please because now I am interested and I don't know a single example.

There's absolutely zero chance this is going to happen to this EV BTW. They might have something for the high end ICE models, but this failure is not going to get in the program.

 

[Design FIRST]

Show us one of your bespoke manufaktur modifications please because now I am interested and I don't know a single example.

There's absolutely zero chance this is going to happen to this EV BTW. They might have something for the high end ICE models, but this failure is not going to get in the program.

Talking about "possibilities", but due to the astronomic fees, vast reaching regulatory compliance + vehicle registration requirements (Einzelbetriebserlaubnis), and the unrelenting pursuasiveness of the customer requesting an unicate, this would be an extremely rare exercise. Discretion may also be key, hence the chance of actually seeing such an automobile could hardly be more unlikely. But, at least, theoretically "doable". An area that is perhaps more applicable to Mythos rather than Manufaktur. Money DOES talk.

 

[klier]

Yeah sure, money talks. But your secret program doesn't exist.

 

[Design FIRST]

Yeah sure, money talks. But your secret program doesn't exist.

Consider "customers" such as: The Vatican. Sultan of Brunei. Emirate sheikhs... Not explicitly Manufaktur or Mythos-yet still indications of what is possible when the most financially solvent customers approach Mercedes-Benz.

 

[AbsoluteUnit]

Yeah sure, money talks. But your secret program doesn't exist.

The proof is the Pope-mobile. They'll do it, just not for any ordinary net worth

 

[klier]

The proof is the Pope-mobile. They'll do it, just not for any ordinary net worth

Yeah sure but that was of course not at all what was meant. We were discussing a normal Manufaktur program for normal people. Not the one off Pope mobil or some random thing done for the Sultan.

No kidding they make what you want if you give them enough money. They've always done that.

Some other highly distinguished Pope mobiles:

• 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe: A custom, open-top popemobile used by Pope Francis during visits to South Korea and the Vatican. It completely eschewed bulletproof glass in favor of a low, open aesthetic.
• 2015 Jeep Wrangler: An open-sided, canopy-topped vehicle used extensively during Pope Francis’s high-profile tour of the United States.
• 2015 Isuzu D-Max / Kia Sedona: Budget-friendly, locally converted utility vehicles used during tours of the Philippines and other Asian nations.
• 2019 Dacia Duster: A modified budget SUV gifted to the Pope by the Renault group. It is painted classic white, features a removable glass enclosure, and highlights Francis's focus on humility.
• 2021 Toyota Mirai (Hydrogen Fuel Cell): A highly customized, zero-emission open-top platform vehicle gifted by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan, matching the Vatican's ongoing green energy initiatives.

 

[Esp5]

Enough of this persistent delusion that Manufaktur or any other program changes Mercedes GT4 bodywork on demand in the real world

 

[SCOTT27]

To do so means they have to crash testing again. And it’s not going to happen for 1 customer who would pay a fraction of what they would pay to make it suitable and legal.

 

[Matski]

To do so means they have to crash testing again. And it’s not going to happen for 1 customer who would pay a fraction of what they would pay to make it suitable and legal.

Not taking sides on this topic, but single vehicle or small series type approval makes provision for changes that don't materially effect certain things. If you're not changing the structure of the vehicle, the passive or active safety systems, and you can demonstrate that it's not effectively going to perform differently to the base car then you may well not need crash testing (amongst others) for such approval.

 

[GTA45E]

Pretty cool up and downshifts. External speaker sound isn’t very V8 though.

Time will tell when the real world tests come.
In some cases it sounds good, others, a bit synthesized, like the one in the short video.

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[Design FIRST]

Enough of this persistent delusion that Manufaktur or any other program changes Mercedes GT4 bodywork on demand in the real world

Information available to the common person applying a bit of internet search engine research. Unlike the automobiles themselves.

For example:

• "Motor Authority: "First Bespoke Model in Mercedes' Mythos Series Lands in 2025" (Vijayenthiran, February 2024).
  • Core Details: An analysis of CEO Ola Källenius’s statements during annual investor meetings. This article marks the shift where Mercedes formally announced that they would no longer just offer customized trim or paint options through their standard lines, but would explicitly use the Mythos sub-brand to create completely distinct body styles and heavily reimagined vehicle architectures for ultra-high-net-worth buyers."

"As highlighted across these publications (Motor Authority, also in somewhat less detail CarBuzz, Motor Trend among others), , a Mythos vehicle is defined by retaining the street-legal chassis of an existing Mercedes platform (like the SL, CLE, or the upcoming AMG.EA) while entirely re-skinning or modifying the body architecture (removing the roof/windshield entirely, or adding aggressive retro widebody modifications) to circumvent the billions in costs required to crash-test a brand-new platform from scratch."

This is not "top secret stuff".

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

Time will tell when the real world tests come.
In some cases it sounds good, others, a bit synthesized, like the one in the short video.

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There's different modes for the V8 sound reproduction as far as I understand, ranging from traditional to futuristic.

 

[GTA45E]

^
This article from Road&Track says the sound changes, depending on throttle position and has more than 1600 samples on file to choose from.

Mercedes AMG
"When we started to think about our first high-performance electric car, we also saw the risk that customers would not actually adopt electric cars," Schiebe told the media at a launch event for the new AMG. "There are some cars out there that already give a kind of combustion engine sound, but we said, 'We need to have a sound experience in that car that is so close to our combustion engine cars that customers really think it's not something fake-ish.' They really need to have the feeling that it is a true AMG sound."

The mechanics of the system are fairly simple. Speakers in the headlights and cabin emit a V-8 exhaust-like note that depends on throttle position, allowing for throaty intake sounds and rumbling "overrun." The system also accounts for "gear position," as the V-8 note is accompanied by a set of simulated cogs, akin to the setup of Hyundai's Ioniq 5 N. Engage AMGForce S+ mode, and a tachometer appears on the dash, allowing AMG GT 4-Door Coupe owners to paddle-shift through a set of simulated gears. The seats even feature a built-in vibration system that mimics the lope of a V-8 engine at idle.


The software behind this false exhaust system is rather complicated. Mercedes says an intelligent real-time mixing system that uses more than 1600 sound files to remix each situation. Provided with thousands of samples, the V-8 exhaust note is generated dynamically in real time to match the current driving behavior.

Mercedes-AMG
The journey to such a sophisticated system wasn't straightforward, according to Schiebe. "We hired a couple of tenants from the music industry, because they know how to do good sound. We said, 'You take the car, you go to our proving ground in Immendingen, you drive the car, and you create the best sound, which is so realistic that our customers will really love it'. They drove the car, they came back—and we were completely disappointed, to be very honest. It was cool, but it had nothing to do with the history and heritage of Mercedes-AMG."

After that disappointing experience, Mercedes turned inward, pairing its own powertrain and exhaust development team with music engineers to create the right sound. The team behind the C190-generation Mercedes-AMG GT Coupe and its 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 got to work replicating the sonics of that gas engine. Schiebe said the team turned around an unbelievably impressive result, a result of decades of internal combustion expertise.

"We used the many, many, many years of V-8 tradition that we have within the company—and the knowledge of how to optimize the gear shifts, the simulations that we have, the rpm meter in your instrument cluster, and everything—to make it so realistic. It was only possible because we had those guys who worked many, many years on our combustion engines. But at the same time, teaming up with these young talents who know how to do good sound," Schiebe said. "And I think it's not so easy to copy, because you need to have the history right."