Mercedes-AMG has no intention of ever replacing the One hypercar with another F1-powered masterpiece.
It took more than five years for customer deliveries of the AMG One to commence due to a series of delays. As Mercedes discovered, taking a complex Formula 1 engine and making it work in a road car isn’t easy. And making it reliable is an even bigger challenge.
While recently speaking with Car Sales about the hybrid hypercar during the launch of the new Mercedes-AMG C 63 S E Performance, Mercedes-AMG director of vehicle development, Steffan Jastrow, revealed that there will be no F1-powered replacement for the One but did say that an all-electric successor is possible.
Read: Mercedes-AMG ONE Is Now The Fastest Production Car Around The Nürburgring At 6:35.183
“I think that’s the one-timer and it was hard enough [to build] and I was responsible for that car,” he said. “I think no, there will be no successor. Not in the definition we have right now.”
Mercedes-AMG’s engineers didn’t just have to get the 1.6-liter turbocharged V6 from its Formula 1 car to work on the road but they also had to ensure that it operates seamlessly alongside not one or two, but four electric motors and a small battery pack. It proved such a headache to make a reality that Mercedes chief executive Ola Kallenius jokingly said that the carmaker’s board must have been drunk when it gave the green light to the project.
“I wouldn’t say we will never have a new hypercar, but there are no plans for that yet. But I think a hypercar based on the Formula 1 powertrain? I think that’s no chance,” Jastrow added. “I think if you want to have in the future somebody, not just AMG or Mercedes, who can bring a Formula 1 engine to a production car, I think this is the one time – the one moment we’ve chosen to do that.”
Mercedes-AMG is building 275 examples of the One at a factory in the UK. The car has already broken numerous production car lap records and offers owners the closest thing to a Formula 1 experience. If it is ever replaced, Jastrow said going all-electric would make sense.
“I think probably yes. I think Euro 7 regulations, that’s definitely finished [the ability] to bring a combustion-based powertrain from Formula 1 through street-legal emission certification,” he stated. “Yeah, I would say in a full electric world it’s easier to certify a hypercar.”
