Mercedes-Benz didn?t bring its upcoming Formula 1?engined road car to the Detroit auto show?we?ll have to wait until the fall to see it?but the company?s executives did tease us with some more details about the new beyond-mega car, including a name, for now at least, with confirmation that the car is currently known internally as Project One.
The car is being built to celebrate AMG?s 50th anniversary and will use a version of Mercedes? championship-winning 1.6-liter Formula 1 engine and KERS assistance system. We don?t know how this will be retuned for road use, although we?re imagining it will have much more low-down torque than its racing counterpart, with AMG boss Tobias Moers having previously indicated it will deliver around 1000 horsepower.
The Detroit show also brought confirmation that production will be limited to no more than 300 units?a number that still represents more than double the production scheduled for the similarly outrageous Aston Martin AM-RB 001. There?s no official word on price, but we can safely anticipate a seven-figure price tag, one that may start with a 2. Yet, as we discovered when we spoke to Mercedes? R&D boss, Ola Källenius, the company is confident that it will have more potential buyers than cars.
?The interest is huge, as you can imagine,? Källenius told us. ?The key here is to take care of our very best customers and try to please everybody, even if we then run out. We will have to have a very careful allocation between the dif...