As you’re drifting off to sleep, there are things you want to envision and things you definitely don’t want stuck in your head. A mental image of fluffy sheep nimbly hopping a fence is welcome, but something that looks like a creature from the depths? Absolute nightmare fuel. When the new Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupe debuted late last night, I thought it looked like a catfish raised entirely on a diet of bong water. Now that I’ve had a few hours to come to grips with the design, guess what? It’s somehow worse than it first appeared.
Right, before we dig into what makes this car so hideous, it’s time for some context. In 2014, Mercedes-Benz revealed a front-mid-engined coupe called the AMG GT and it was glorious. Seeking to cash in on that brand equity with the shamelessness of a comic book film, 2019 saw Mercedes-AMG rework the E-Class platform into a five-door liftback called the AMG GT 4-Door Coupe, which essentially became the de facto replacement for the CLS. With a choice of straight-six or V8 power, it had some muscle behind the posturing and looked handsome enough.
However, for the second-generation AMG GT 4-Door Coupe, Mercedes-AMG is going electric – just as the sort of people who buy six-figure luxury performance cars are expressing a thirst for the internal combustion engine. It’s definitely a bold move, one that probably would’ve been more successful five years ago, but it’s hard to deny that the specifications are impressive.
Specs like 1,153 horsepower. Yep, a one, then a comma, then another one, followed by a five and a three. A three-piece array of axial flux motors imbues the top-spec Mercedes-AMG GT 63 4-Door Coupe with output to rival the 1,234-horsepower Lucid Air Sapphire and the 1,019-horsepower Porsche Taycan Turbo GT. Granted, there is a caveat here: Full power is only unlocked during launch control at 80 percent state of charge. Still, when the stars align, Mercedes-AMG claims it can sprint from zero to 60 mph in two seconds flat, which is quicker than you can say the name of the vehicle, and it’ll allegedly run from a dead stop to 124 MPH in a mere 6.4 seconds. Oh, and the motors themselves are tiny, with the front motor measuring 3.5 inches wide and the rear motors each measuring 3.2 inches wide.
If that’s far too much, there is a lesser Mercedes-AMG GT 53 4-Door Coupe on offer with a mere 805 horsepower. You know, sensible grocery-getter stuff. Beyond shock-and-awe output, this EV features serious cooling capacity, rides on triple-adjustable air springs, steers all four wheels, offers multi-stage traction control, and can be optioned with interlinked hydraulic dampers for active roll stabilization. The battery pack boasts 106 kWh of usable capacity, and there’s silly 600 kW DC fast charging capability that will be a struggle to exploit in the real world due to most fast chargers tapping out at or below 350 kW. There’s even a drive mode with fake shifts and a simulated V8 soundtrack, a bit like what you get in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N.
It’s certainly a monumental technological showcase for Mercedes-AMG, but there’s one big problem: This car redefines the word ‘gopping’ because in just about every way, it’s the most hideous thing to ever feature an AMG badge. Let’s start at the front, where a number of sins are committed.
For the past eight years or so, the so-called Panamericana grille with its vertical slats has been a Mercedes-AMG trademark. At face value, that’s fine, but the integration here leaves a lot to be desired. It seems extruded from the bumper, which introduces a whole lot of strange surfacing. If you look at other upper grille-less cars like the Porsche 911 or the Xiaomi SU7, you’ll notice that where the hood tapers down at the front, the upper edge of the bumper continues the same curvature before increasing its severity as it transitions to a vertical plane.
This AMG GT 4-Door Coupe does the opposite of that, like it’s got a permanent Kylie Jenner lip kit on. To sort of cheat this transition, Mercedes-AMG has gone with the most loathed visual element of the moment, a light bar spanning both headlights that looks like something you could buy off of AliExpress. Oh, and of course, the headlights have three-pointed stars in them, as if the dinner plate-sized emblem in the grille wasn’t enough. The end result isn’t simply a catfish mouth. If you cover either the headlights or the lower bumper, this thing looks like two different cars. That’s not attractive, full-stop.
In contrast to the front, perhaps the profile of the new AMG GT 4-Door Coupe being a bit generic isn’t a terrible thing. It has the same sort of modest dash-to-axle, upward lower flank crease, strong haunches, and sloping roofline we’ve seen from a litany of other electric sedans, although again, the devil is in the details. Each extreme of the greenhouse features a slab of plastic, and while the modestly sized triangle simulating a quarter window is relatively inoffensive, a small quarter-light would’ve been more tasteful than the triangle of plastic in the front door window aperture.
Right, brief break from visual whiplash over, onto the rear, which is about as minging as the nose. That taillight configuration is truly something else. Six round elements, one three-piece arc over the top, smoked horizontal elements presumably for indicators and reversing lights, all set into a giant sea of shiny black plastic. So much shiny plastic, the round elements with their garish inlaid three-pointed stars look lost in a void. It looks like the back of the car is wearing ski goggles, and that’s not even the bit that really annoys me.
The Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupe is going to be an expensive car. Pricing hasn’t been released yet, but the old combustion-powered model tops out north of $200,000. Given the inclusion of a panoramic moonroof, why couldn’t Mercedes-AMG paint the strip of trim between the moonroof and the rear window black for a cohesive look? It’s been done before on the W213 E-Class, Volkswagen offers a more extensive and expensive painted treatment on the current Golf R’s roof to match the tinted moonroof, so why couldn’t Mercedes-AMG finish this detail off properly on its five-door flagship?
In case you were expecting this thing’s gurning mouth and unresolved arse to give way to a gorgeous interior, you may want to temper your expectations, because everything is computer. Quite literally, there’s not one physical control on the entire face of the dashboard, with a three-screen array dominating everything like dropping an entire bottle of the sort of hot sauce you’d find at Ace Hardware into a bowl of oatmeal. You do get some drive mode selectors and a small bank of controls for stuff like hazard warning lamps and stereo volume in the console, but the sheer reliance on screens really cheapens the cabin of the AMG GT 4-Door Coupe. The metal speaker grilles, quilted leather door card inserts, and exposed carbon console are utterly lost in the digital assault.
Now granted, there have been cars with stars on the front unveiled to a dearth of applause. Stories from the debut of the R231 SL recount an awkward silence after the sheet was lifted, and the Dodge Intrepid-shaped EQS didn’t exactly set the world alight. However, being mocked on debut is a new one. I posted two photos of the new AMG GT 4-Door Coupe to my own Instagram story, and as you’d expect, it was viewed by many colleagues. Perhaps the most suitable reaction came from a very respected auto writer via private DMs, which have been anonymized to protect the guilty:
“Wait, this is real?”
Unfortunately.
“Holy shit.”
Indeed, the overarching reaction to this engineering marvel is one of incredulity that Mercedes-AMG would release something this visually unresolved, this garish, this bewilderingly fish-faced. From a marque that’s staked over a century of reputation on elegance, letting a car like this out of the studio is embarrassing. Mind you, this was always going to be a low-volume car, and Mercedes-AMG only needs a few dissenting opinions for the AMG GT 4-Door Coupe to be a modest success. As Autopian editor-in-chief David Tracy wrote in Slack, “I think it looks fantastic.”
Top graphic image: Mercedes-AMG
I can’t believe they got even uglier than the EQ cars! Truly impressive how dogshit this is.
I’m continually amazed that Merc is fine with their emblem being used as lighting elements. It cheapens the three pointed star tremendously and they’re doing it on every new thing they show.
The same goes for the wall of screen interior. Brought to you by the same company that a couple decades ago had to begrudgingly offer cup holders in their cars. The detailing inside is really head scratching as well. I’ve seen pachinko parlors in Japan with more restraint.
The star everywhere thing is tacky. MB used to be the opposite of tacky. They’ve gone from Grace Kelly To Kim Kardashian.
The headlight and taillight motif reminds me more of the radioactivity warning than the Mercedes-Benz star, which paired with the Cartoon-Nuclear-Waste paint choice leads me to believe this was stolen from the Grand Theft Auto 6 catalog, and was supposed to be named “Mutant GT”, maybe “E-Tumor” or “Meltdown”
Edit: The more I look at it, the more it reminds me of the Elephant’s Foot.
I suppose everything is inverted so why shouldn’t the Chinese and Koreans make better looking cars then the Germans. At this point they are probably built better and last longer too. It sort of looks like they found a fisker sketch and went let’s build that. Is he working for Mercedes or something.
And just like that we live in a futuristic dystopian novel describing the future, except it’s real.
Honestly I like the exterior except for the rear.
Man, that’s a hell of a specific reference. Which one, though? Rectal Lobotomizer? Johnny Two Shart’s Butthole Blaster-a-Palooza? Medium Fire Risk? Growling Javelina Smoke Bomb? I suppose there’s always just Hot Ass. You know, it’s the one in the middle of the shelf between Fire Shit and Liquid Shit.
Or are we thinking about one of the barbecue products, like Big Bob’s Big Boy Butt Rub Sauce? I guess there’s always Extreme Butt Stuff and Meat Slappin’ Sauce, but those might be a little too mild for this bit. Don’t forget the fish stuff, too. Really Crappie Crap actually smells kind of nice, with a subtle rosemary kinda thing going on. We might need to have a head-to-head with that and Monty Python and the Holy Trout Grenade.
All I know is, even the crudest novelty culinary joke product looks better than whatever this is. If you’ll excuse me, I need to chug my tastefully simple bottle of Crystal Extra Hot and weep for the state of product design under my desk.
The taillights look like they’re from an old Impala that’s radioactive.
Also I didn’t know they made Mercedeses in a color that isn’t silver. Maybe that’s why it seems so weird.
Today I learned three new British slang words: Gopping, minging and gurning.
Benz and BMW have lost the plot for so long, I don’t think they’ll ever find it again. Audi is bland but OK.
I don’t think it’s great, but I’m not gouging my eyes out over it.
I wanna scoop my eyes out with a plastic spoon.
As long as it has more interior space than its claustrophobic predecessor, then I’m ok with it. The previous generation AMG GT was horrible to be in as both passenger and driver.
After seeing the taillights, I wondered if this was a collab with IZZE.
Please, never change Thomas.
Incredible. They’ve managed to make something more garish than the glowing three spoke emblems and its more glowing three spoke emblems
I like it
Here – Try my glasses.
(Scroll)
[Front end photo]
“Oh, god, that’s hideous!”
(keeps reading)
[Back end photo]
“Good lord, that’s even worse!”
(keeps reading)
[Interior photo]
(Projectile vomits all over keyboard)
That pretty much sums it up.
Nothing scream luxury like acres of exterior plastic.
I will take this 100x over whatever is being designed over at Audi (Q5/A5 – yuck, bland). And, what is better in the current BMW portfolio?
Sure, the original design of this car was better and fit the Mercedes ethos of being a bit more elegant and restrained but I think this actually looks good, just not in yellow. Show it in the traditional black, white or silver that 99% of these cars will be built with, I bet it looks much better, especially all black.
Black is to car design as ivy is to architecture.
Any awful design will look better in black or covered in ivy – where it can’t be seen.
The entire BMW lineup looks better. Yes, even the horrific XM.
Mercedes-Benz has lost the plot.
I’m sure it won’t sell in the hundreds of thousands.
It’s a good thing they fired Gorden Wagener.
A face that sunk a thousand ships
My thoughts exactly – garbage like this is why design bosses lose their jobs – which this one did BTW!
Nope, not for me.
I wonder if this is like ugly shoes in running. The uglier the shoe, the more expensive and high performance it is. Are the designers trying to make something so ugly that it’s a status marker to like? An F U vehicle to the poors? Maybe you have you just have to be a “Mercedes person” to see it.
Or maybe their Chinese market prefers much more garish vehicles.
Imo, all car manufacturers in this segment have been designing automotive Yeezys for some time now. Shit, Bangle-era BMWs look downright attractive, given the modern competition. The least hideous are Audi by quite a significant margin, but they still piss me off.
COTD for “automotive Yeezys”
Ugh. Ford has the Filson Bronco, Mercedes will have the “Mercedes x Hoka Crossover Crosstrainer”.
The front end is very much awful, almost nauseating to look at. Just gross.
But the genuinely LOL that came out of me (a real one! at my desk at work! please warn me next time!) is that rear end. My dear lord is that not only ugly, but just impossibly tacky. Hoooooo baby that’s lame.
Also, the overuse of the 3-point star on this car, goddamn I feel like I can see the Fonz jumping this thing on water skiis in the pictures.
I thought it was one of those ads showing a rendered vaporware car like “Meet the Xiangdong Prestige, this 1500HP EV has Tesla investors worried!”
This car almost makes me wish I was still seeing those ads because at least I could sleep at night knowing they’ll never be built.
This looks absolutely awful…I still think current bimmer buck teeth + terrible squared off front ends look worse
“there’s not one physical control on the entire face of the dashboard”
What fresh hell is this? We truly live in hell. Also, notice interiors/dashes on most new cars pretty much look the same? There’s no fucking personality to vehicles now. I have no interest in any newer vehicles…and newer to me is anything after the year 2000