What Happened To The Vision AMG Concept’s Wild Design?

The four-door EV’s nose is uncovered for the first time, showing both similarities and notable differences compared to the concept

                                        https://www.carscoops.com/author/chris-chilton-cc/                                    

AMG dropped a set of teaser images for its new EV sedan earlier this month, officially starting the countdown to a full reveal later this year. There’s plenty about the still-unnamed four-door to get us excited, including the new AMG.EA architecture and axial flux electric motors from Britain’s Yasa that should deliver a four-figure power output.

Related: AMG’s First Super Sedan Looks Ready To Fire Off Its 1,000-HP

Each of those motors packs a serious punch, cranking out around 480 horsepower and 590 lb-ft (800Nm) of torque, which is pretty impressive given their compact size weighing in at just 53 lbs (24kg). With up to three motors on the table, it’s not hard to imagine a performance version blasting well past 1,000 horsepower.

A Closer Look at the Exterior

But now we’ve got something even better than speculative specs: new spy shots. For the first time, we get to see the EV in daylight without its bulky front-end camouflage. Does the design match the promise of those numbers? Well, sort of.

Though this prototype is still covered from head to toe in a distracting camouflage wrap, we can finally see the shape of the front fenders, hood and headlights, and I can’t help feeling a little disappointed. Mercedes has a bit of form for over-promising and under-delivering when it comes to concept cars and the production vehicles they morph into – think gorgeous Vision EQS and boring soap-bar EQS – and this EV looks to be no different.

It misses out on the sexy peaked fenders of 2022’s Mercedes Vision AMG Concept, which paved the way for way for this year’s Porsche Taycan rivaling production car. Instead, it has a fairly flat hood, though one that does at least reach down towards the road, resulting in a sportily narrow grille area.

And while it has DRLs in the shape of a Mercedes star, it looks like they’re just set into regular light units, not embedded directly into the bodywork, as on the concept. Porsche’s production Taycan wasn’t identical to the original Mission E concept, but the changes were so subtle that no one ever felt short-changed. AMG fans might be on this occasion.

Of course we have to reserve judgment until the full disguise comes off, and we really do hope the finished car is a knockout. What do you think? Does it look like AMG has missed an opportunity to really make its mark in a new segment, or is this EV going to deliver a killer blow to the Porsche Taycan?

Images: Baldauf, Mercedes AMG