Only 275 units were planned – but one thing never reached the customer: a Mercedes-AMG One worth several million euros burned out on the autobahn.
Ash and burned rubber – nothing more was left of an ultra-rare million-Mercedes. The exclusive sports car had not even arrived at the customer’s when it burst into flames on a freeway.
A message on Twitter shows what was left of the sports car.
The Mercedes-AMG One – with the same engine as Lewis Hamilton’s F1 car – was being transported on the M6 motorway in Staffordshire (central England) when the fire broke out. This is reported by the British newspaper “The Sun”.
Mercedes confirmed the fire to the newspaper. “We are aware of this incident,” said a spokesman. “Fortunately, to our knowledge, no one was injured.”
This is the Mercedes AMG One
There has never been so much Formula 1 on the road: the AMG One brings racing into series production. Its drivers experience the latest Formula 1 hybrid drive technology – without a racing license: a 1.6-liter V6 petrol engine that, together with four electric motors, delivers 1,063 hp. Acceleration to 100 km/h in 2.9 seconds, to 200 km/h in 7 seconds and to 300 km/h in 15.6 seconds. The top speed: 352 km/h.
Whoever gets a Mercedes-AMG One belongs to the group of just 275 chosen by the company. And that is worth more than three million euros to some people.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated. “At this point we don’t know what caused the fire,” the spokesman said. According to reports, the hybrid sports car’s battery could have started the fire. Another assumption: The fire started from the brakes of the truck on which the 1,063 hp Mercedes was being transported.
The AMG One should go to the counted and selected clientele by the end of 2020. But production only started last year. The simple reason for the delay: the developers almost failed in their own right. A Formula 1 racing car is a car like no other. And transferring its technology to a production model is almost impossible.
The highly complex engine, for example, is assembled in Great Britain at Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains, where the Formula 1 engines are also built. Final assembly of the car takes place in Coventry at a dedicated plant. Then the sports car is tested on a nearby race track. It is then removed by the test driver.
Finally, the sports cars are transported by truck to the Mercedes-AMG headquarters in Affalterbach and handed over to the customer there. The fire has now broken out on one of these many stations.
Only 275 AMG Ones were to be built. Now it is already clear: There will be 276 – at least.