Mercedes hyper-saloon idea went 25,000 miles in lower than eight days – then we climbed aboard
It’s 11:36 on a Monday, 25 August 2025. Not simply any Monday however the one after Mercedes-AMG rewrote the electrical automotive file books with its new GT XX idea.
Underneath leaden skies, the air at Nardò Technical Centre in Italy nonetheless hangs thick with the afterglow of automotive historical past within the making. Barely 12 hours have handed because the sunset-orange super-saloon lapped the high-speed banking for the 3177th time to deliver up a complete distance of 24,901 miles – the official circumference of the equator – in seven days, 13 hours, 24 minutes and 7 seconds.
It’s a file that Mercedes-AMG CEO Michael Schiebe says was impressed by the Jules Verne novel Round The World In 80 Days. “Besides we determined to shorten it to eight,” he tells me with a understanding grin, emotion nonetheless faintly creasing his voice.
This wasn’t a publicity train designed to generate short-term headlines. It was probably the most formidable and, arguably, most meticulously deliberate electrical automotive endurance file marketing campaign ever tried. In whole, 26 world data have been set.
It wasn’t all plain crusing, although. Ambient temperatures soared previous 35deg C in the course of the day earlier than plunging to 20deg C in a single day, whereas intervals of torrential rain and a short energy reduce inside Nardò’s electrical energy infrastructure added a layer of unpredictability that no simulation might totally anticipate.
The brand new 24-hour electrical automotive distance file is maybe probably the most high-profile of all to date: 3404 miles. That is some 943 miles or 38% farther than the Xpeng P7 managed earlier this month.
To place this into perspective: the GT XX eclipsed the P7’s short-lived 24-hour file of 2461 miles in simply 17 hours and 18 minutes, then, with practically seven hours nonetheless on the clock, it continued circulating Nardò, protecting the extra 943 miles – roughly the space between London and Barcelona – with solely temporary stops to high up its battery and, whereas doing so, match new tyres when required.
That alone would have been headline-worthy in itself, however Mercedes-AMG, seeking to make a a lot greater assertion, pressed on in earnest.
The data continued to tumble for an extra week, the GT XX establishing extra benchmarks for 48, 72, 96, 120, 144 and 168 hours.
The Porsche Taycan rival additionally posted new data at 2000, 5000, 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 and 25,000 miles, amongst others.
In a transparent signal of the depth of its dedication and want to get rid of any single level of failure, Mercedes-AMG didn’t simply make use of one GT XX for the duty; it ran two in tandem, every with its personal devoted crew of engineers, drivers and logistics assist. Every was distinguished by colored markings throughout the facet sills.
“We took quite a lot of our method from motorsport,” says Schiebe. “We had crew blue and crew inexperienced. The 2 pushed one another. It acquired so intense early on that we needed to inform them to decelerate.”
Now, lower than half a day later, a kind of GT XXs is rolling once more, this time with me strapped into the passenger seat.
Other than a tell-tale movie of grime protecting its bodywork, the 5204mm-long saloon seems to be untouched from its debut at Mercedes-AMG’s Affalterbach headquarters in Germany again in June.
Inside, the cabin is much more evocative. All the things remains to be because it was in the course of the file try. The seat is agency. The six-point seat belts are stiff. The cabin is remarkably clear and unspoilt for one thing that has simply travelled over 3000 miles for every of the previous eight or so days with barely a breath between stint. It hasn’t had quite a lot of time to chill down. Neither has the crew.
So, that is Nardò, the 7.8-mile round high-speed take a look at observe carved into the heel of Italy’s boot. As soon as a Fiat proving floor, immediately it’s owned by Porsche however run as a worldwide engineering centre open to paying prospects. There are not any company partitions or rivalry right here, simply respect and reverence.
Mercedes-Benz has been right here earlier than, in fact. In 2024, it set a brand new electrical automotive 24-hour hour distance file with the brand new third-generation Mercedes CLA saloon at 2310 miles. Again in 1976, the German automotive maker’s C111 analysis prototype additionally set a number of endurance data right here, establishing a legacy Schiebe says served as inspiration.
The low and glossy styling of the GT XX, which boasts a remarkably low drag coefficient of 0.19, offers clues to how its manufacturing sibling will look.
However it’s what lies beneath that makes this a technological milestone, not only a design examine. It’s primarily based on Mercedes-AMG’s all-new AMG.EA electrical automotive structure, the primary bespoke electrical platform from the corporate and fully separate to these utilized in commonplace Mercedes-Benz fashions. The manufacturing automotive that the four-door idea previews, the following GT 4-Door Coupé, is deliberate to reach within the UK earlier than the tip of subsequent 12 months.
That automotive will inherit the GT XX’s drivetrain: a triple-motor structure with two axial flux motors (developed in partnership between Mercedes-AMG, Oxford-based Yasa and Mercedes-AMG’s Brixworth Excessive Efficiency Powertrain division) on the rear and a smaller axial flux booster motor sitting up entrance. In whole, they ship a mixed 1341bhp.
Energy is delivered by a single-speed gearbox and supported by an oil-immersed cylindrical-cell battery pack, that includes direct liquid cooling and a theoretical cost charge between 850–900kW. A 249-mile vary, Mercedes-AMG says, could be added in lower than 5 minutes.
The person on the wheel immediately – Florian Fröhlich, a veteran from Mercedes-Benz’s take a look at and growth ranks additionally closely concerned within the CLA’s file breaking feats – offers a closing nod and nudges the throttle. There’s no fuss, no sound, simply clear, linear ahead motion. Seamless. Clean. The primary half mile or so is silence and serenity.
After which, as soon as we clear the slip highway and enter the broad expanse of the Nardò observe itself, it hits. Not simply typical efficiency saloon automotive acceleration, one thing stronger – a lot stronger. Supercar-like in depth however once more eerily silent.
That’s once I keep in mind Schiebe telling me the data have been set with out the help of Mercedes-AMG’s new sound generator. “We are going to provide it to prospects, and it will likely be an integral a part of the manufacturing automotive. However for the marketing campaign at Nardò, our crew determined to do with out it.”
As we go away the pit advanced behind us, we’re doing 50mph. Then 100mph. And really practically 150mph earlier than we’ve even crossed the three lanes into the outer banked part. The GT XX settles effectively, squatting imperceptibly into the groove it has carved for itself over the previous week.
Even at this lick, there’s no drivetrain noise in any respect. Simply the sound of the bespoke Michelin tyres on the observe floor and a persistent buffeting wind across the outer edges of the windscreen. Right now, we’re restricted to 155mph however the swiftness and readability in the way it goes about its enterprise leaves little doubt that it was engineered for vastly extra.
This very automotive held a median of 186mph for eight days straight, excluding charging. A crew of 17 drivers, together with Components 1 star George Russell, rotated in eight-hour shifts, supported by over 130 engineers and logistics workers on-site at Nardò. Scores extra monitored the automotive and its an identical twin from command centres in Affalterbach and Brixworth. A charging infrastructure with over 1.5 miles of cable was laid throughout the take a look at facility to assist all of it. Seven radio channels and greater than 8000 transmissions a day saved each element coordinated. Some 46 tyre adjustments have been made and 300 windscreens washed.
And what a technique. Mercedes-AMG didn’t simply construct a quick electrical saloon. It additionally constructed a predictive efficiency system derived from its expertise in F1 racing, full with clever thermal administration and cloud-optimised charging logic. Later we’re proven graphs, warmth maps, telemetry overlays and charging profile exhibiting how each second on observe was deliberate and recorded. Every record-breaking stint was meticulously simulated, run, analysed and tweaked within the months main as much as the file try. Then rerun once more. This wasn’t the setting of endurance marks by brute horsepower. It was extra record-breaking by algorithm.
Whereas the GT XX has a claimed high pace of 224mph, Schiebe says his engineering crew by no means thought-about pushing past the 186mph common. “It’s the candy spot: the purpose we calculated we might obtain the very best trade-off between outright pace and aerodynamic drag.”
Again within the automotive, it’s tough to reconcile the violence of the efficiency with the calmness of the expertise. There’s no twitchiness, no nervousness, solely composed, sustained energy and uncanny straight-line stability. The sheer effectiveness of the aerodynamics throughout the underbody, which is formed to create a venturi impact, means your entire file try was run with out the necessity to deploy the GT XX’s rear spoiler. The cooling was one other key issue.
The analysis prototype’s energetic wheels, which home 5 separate panels that may open to extend air stream, remained closed throughout on observe working to make sure the bottom doable drag, opened solely whereas charging to dissipate warmth. The centre-lock wheels showcased with the automotive again in June have been shelved in favour of extra typical five-bolt wheels.
The view from the outer lane of the excessive pace bowl is spectacular – at one level the horizon dissolves right into a shimmering blue Mediterranean haze of ocean. However the close by guardrail is a continuing reminder of your pace and what’s at stake. The round nature means there is no such thing as a outlined straights, with the steering wheel at all times held barely off-centre to compensate. Within the lead as much as the file try, Mercedes-AMG settled on working in an clockwise path. “We had the selection however with the prevailing winds and such, we thought-about it the best choice,” Schiebe reveals.
After two unforgettable laps and practically 15 miles, the radio cackles and we’re known as into the pit. Fröhlich lifts. The GT XX coasts with none direct energy for nearly a mile, a process used for every charging cease in the course of the file run, he tells me.
As we get to the pit entry marker, there’s an instantaneous and tangible tug because the regenerative braking system is triggered, scrubbing off pace with easy, magnetic deceleration. It’s as if the disc-shaped axial motors have become enormous anchors, yanking the large saloon again from the brink. Mercedes-AMG says it will possibly recuperate as much as 600kW of kinetic power in such circumstances. And truthfully, it feels prefer it.
We roll to a halt below the bridge the place Mercedes-AMG has arrange a makeshift technical bunker for the file run. Banks of computer systems hum inside a short lived command centre made up of white-painted transport containers. The pit crew, as targeted as at any F1 race, transfer rapidly, lifting the charging flap hidden below the right-hand rear fender and attaching the DC charging plug.
Immediately, a readout blinks to life and the numbers start to roll on the GT XX’s show like a digital slot machine: 100, 200, 400, 800kW… and nonetheless rising. No hesitation, no let-up. By the point it nudges previous 850kW, I look over to the driving force. He’s grinning. “That’s a part of the key,” he says, watching the show tick on. “With such speedy charging, our stops in the course of the file run have been between two and 4 minutes.”
And nonetheless the numbers proceed to climb: 920, 930, 940, 950kW after which, lastly, the height, 965kW. That’s practically six instances the 170kW charging capability of the present Mercedes-AMG EQE 53 4Matic+. And we’re witnessing it dwell within the subject utilizing the identical Alpitronic charger used all through Mercedes-AMG’s eight days of record-breaking.
One factor’s clear. The Mercedes-AMG’s file run with the GT XX wasn’t nearly lapping a take a look at observe rapidly. It was about redefining the higher limits of what built-in electrical automotive efficiency could be, each now and sooner or later: from drivetrain working technique, battery chemistry, aerodynamic management, thermal administration to software program analytics, power recuperation, tyre optimisation and way more.
It didn’t simply chase data; it created a rulebook for the way to break them.
