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
It’s the April 1st release of Radiohead’s “Not OK Computer”. Which is a remix and mashup of older styles that don’t go together but since people are buying: F-it, full send.
The rear taillights remind me of a Chevy Impala mashup, from different eras.
Wild to combine and interpret a 2002 Impala:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2002_Chevrolet_Impala.jpg
with a 1960 Impala:
https://stock.adobe.com/images/rear-view-of-a-red-colored-1960-chevrolet-impala/321137916
(Wish I had time to find a better image for the 1960s era…)
My reaction to the front was “Ummm okay… not great, but okay.”
But then when seeing the back, my reaction was “WHAT THE FAK IS THAT??? WHY ARE THERE MITSUBISHI EMBLEMS WITHIN THE LIGHTS??”
That rear looks like a beginner Automation design… Six tail lights? The boys down at the Taillight bar are gonna have a field day
These will be worth a lot of money in 50-60 years. No one is going to buy one and the 3 that hit the market will a collector’s dream
Obviously Mercedes wanted to put a stop to long-time-rival BMW’s reign at the top of the “Most ugly front grill” charts.
Kill it with fire.
I usually don’t comment much on this website because I can always find good takes and opinions and I feel like I have nothing to add.
This time, though, it may be useful that we show someone in the Mercedes admin how poorly received this design (hopefully) will be. And it’s not just a matter of opinion, it is objectively bad.
This seems like the beginning of a very bad period for mercedes. The GLC electric, new A class, restyled EQS.
They all have this weird vibe, the fishiness, the black plastic accents.
Just no.
That rumbling noise is Bruno Sacco spinning in his grave.
I may have called the W126 “body by Mosler” but it had gravitas and presence and nobody laughed at it. This is a six figure clown car that makes a Pontiac Grand Prix GTP look refined
TIL “minging” (hard g as in dinging, not tinging) and “gurning.” Thanks Thomas.
MB lost its way long ago. Sacco had a couple early triumphs but it’s been downhill since. So sad.
Excellent and very accurate choice of words indeed.
My 2yo son has a tendency to identify anything vaguely yuck-looking as “chicken poo” at the moment. I’m sure if I showed him this he’d point and say “Daddy, chicken poo!”
Yuck.
Oh sweet mother . . .
When I saw the front, my first thought was “someone put a terrible Mercedes AMG body kit on an MX-5”. Then I saw the back and realized that it’s a Fiero, not a Miata.
I’m usually one to defend “different” designs because it’s bold risk-taking that I want to see more of. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and that’s OK.
This is irredeemable, though. Shocking inside and out.
What I find most disappointing is that this design language started with the absolutely gorgeous Vision One-Eleven concept. It was already watered down beyond recognition with the AMG GT XX Concept – and now this is the result.
I will say, the motors being 3ish inches wide is breaking my brain. I’m extremely curious about the tech and future driving impressions of this thing, despite the styling being a non-starter.
Also, I disagree that 600kw charging capability is useless. EV tech is moving so fast, it’s super important to me that any new model be reasonably future-proofed. Sure, there aren’t 600kw chargers available yet, but when there are, you’ll be ready without needing a new car.
Right, before we dig into what makes this comment section contribution so valuable, it’s time for some context. Somewhere in Stuttgart, a team of engineers spent the better part of a decade packaging three axial flux motors into something that’ll do zero to sixty in two seconds flat. That’s serious work, full-stop. Mind you, someone also had to write “catfish raised on a diet of bong water,” and rather inevitably, that someone was not an engineer. Now granted, both pursuits have their place. One of them resulted in 1,156 horsepower and genuinely revolutionary cooling capacity and stuff. The other resulted in this. Oh, and well done on the light bar observation. Truly rather valuable stuff.
One can marvel at the engineering while (justifiably) deriding the design.
Of course. One can also deride the blogger for his lack of automotive contributions outside content milling using the same 6 gaudy transitions
Huh? Where did that come from.
All the more reason this disgraced company should have put a better effort into the prompts they gave the AI they had style it. It’s also really not that impressive engineering. Axial flow? So what? It could use transparent aluminum for glass and it would still hold no appeal other than, “oh it’s got ALON for glass, that’s cool.” It’s still not any more powerful or faster than a bunch of better looking (!) cars out of China. None of these numbers even matter as every boring EV posts about the same ones with any slight variances being entirely academic as the performance is not useable or useful. Where’s the outstanding quality, something interesting and unique to set it apart (being ugly doesn’t count), great craftsmanship, fine materials, or engineering intended to last? I’m sure it drives little different to any other EV, so there’s no novelty and it’s not even good to look at! An ugly B-vitamin supplement piss yellow is the closest it gets to hinting at any kind of joy (and they’ll almost all be black or silver). This isn’t coming from some generic no-name Chinese company with no heritage appealing to a culture with a supposedly unusual aesthetic sense, this is coming from the once great Mercedes f’n Benz and they want $200k for it. This is an embarrassment. OK, the engineer can pat himself on the back (and he’ll have to because nobody else will when he points out the project he worked on), but an automobile is a huge team effort and everyone else failed. Calling out a writer for criticizing this roadkill by defending the unseen engineering that 99.9% of buyers don’t care about is like attacking a critic of a Neil Breen movie because someone somehow slipped a couple scenes with good F/X past Neil.
Cue up the automotive journalists who will play down just how hideous this thing is. They’ll use terms like “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” or “aesthetics are subjective” just so they don’t have to outright say this is fugly beyond belief. These journalists have been giving German brands one free pass after another for ages now. Much of it dealt with poor quality, but they’ve been overlooking their awful designs for a while.
No they won’t. People already hate on this, and I’m telling you, every publication will be jumping on the train and milking it. People have strong opinions, and they’ll cater to them. Exactly as the Jaguar rebrand, which no-one even gave a second thought to, because the reception was negative from the get-go, and everyone joined in.
All this will be is a race to find the most colorful insults and critiques, which this article already demonstrates. Rarely do you see an article about a car reveal this negative (especially here on the Autopian, which usually has well-balanced articles).
But remember, Cadillac made some really shitty cars in the 80s and 90s and can never, ever ever recover it’s reputation!
Exactly. The automotive press is so anti-American it is infuriating.
And I’d argue “the enthusiast community” at least in the visible “leadership ranks” have been that way for a long time. Now I don’t mean enthusiasts, those quotes do a lot of work here haha, I really do mean the visible opinion makers who decide what is good
Being able to steal the best minds from the competition can really transform a brand. Look at Hyundai/Kia since they got designer Luc Donckerwolke and M engineer Albert Biermann.
Now Mercedes are planning to turn their fortunes from the EQ fiascos with the help of Takanori Aoki, former head of design at Mitsuoka.
I almost feel like you guys should owe me some money to help cover the medical bills for the whiplash I got from seeing the rear end. Up until then, I figured it was just a generic, Chinese EV looking sedan with an ugly front end. Nothing could have prepared me for the rear.
I’ve always been mostly indifferent about Mercedes Benz my whole life. They made plenty of great cars in my childhood but they were rarely ever my favorite. But even I’m sad at how far they’ve fallen.
Yes, it does look like an attempt at selling in the Chinese market, but 3-5 years ago.
I guess we ran out of eyes on all beholders….
Fuck that thing is hideous. And I’ve been known to like certain “ugly” cars.
I would dearly love to know what Uncle Adrian thinks of this…
I’m pretty sure Adrian would have a valid and expensive workers comp claim against his employer if they asked him to do anything that required he look at this car. Thomas probably had to do this on personal time.
Yes, my thoughts.
Uncle Adrian, where are you and your writing talents??!
Who is the chief designer for Mercedes Benz these days? Holy shit there’s a lot to take in here.
I think you mean “what”, as it had to be AI.
God-Awful. I’m so glad you called out the strip behind the roof; it immediately annoyed me. The interior looks like something from Mansory. Just horrendous. Someone put this thing down before it inflicts visual pain.
I don’t typically pay much attention to cars like these, since I’m definitely not the target market. But when I saw that picture, the first thing I thought was that the headlights and the front bumper look like they’re from entirely different vehicles. I’m pleased to see others got the same impression…this place is turning me into a proper car person! 🙂
That was my immediate impression as well. The rear looks nothing like something that belongs on a 4 door sedan as well.
The headlights looks like they’re from one of those new electric Smart Cars.
it’s still better looking than bmw giant grill faces. but the ass is trash on this thing.
I hope it has an anglerfish antenna option for the hood.
I’m impressed with how hideous it is inside and out. Someday in the future, I’d like to see the country distribution of sales.
We both know these cars will be big sellers in China. They don’t care about beauty, they want gaudy, in-your-face styling.