A Hot Start to Testing
The Mercedes-AMG GT is expected to receive several changes for the 2027 model year, including a facelift for the two-door coupe. Ahead of its launch, however, the model suffered a setback after a prototype caught fire during a road test in Spain’s Sierra Nevada region.
The car was wrapped in camouflage when it caught fire, but its shape and design details indicate that it is a Mercedes-AMG GT facelift prototype. This model boasts a front-mid-engine layout, which can provide better weight distribution. Looking at the incident, the front of the car appears largely undamaged at first, while the rear bore the brunt of the fire. That could draw attention to the electrified components of the E Performance plug-in hybrid system positioned at the rear, although the exact cause of the blaze remains unknown.
Where the Heat May Have Started
This PHEV system combines a lightweight AMG high-performance battery and an electric motor with a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 to produce 805 horsepower. Compared with the equivalent non-E Performance GT 63, the PHEV system adds about 228 horsepower. More components can mean more potential failure points, but this incident alone does not establish that the hybrid system was responsible. The uploader, kikisnevada_pgarage on Instagram, claimed that portable fire extinguishers were unable to stop the blaze.
To give the model the benefit of the doubt, this was a prototype, meaning the German marque could have been testing different components from various suppliers before bringing them to production. The silver lining is that the vehicle failed during testing rather than after being delivered to a customer, giving engineers an opportunity to identify any potential issues.
More importantly, no one was reportedly injured.
The Battery Fire Reality
At least the vehicle involved was not the new four-door Mercedes-AMG GT, which is fully electric for the 2027 model year. Its 106-kWh battery is substantially larger than the 6.1-kWh pack in the E Performance model, and high-voltage battery fires can be difficult to control. If the cells enter thermal runaway, they can continue generating heat and may reignite after appearing to have been extinguished.
While Mercedes has yet to pull the wraps off the facelifted two-door coupe, the 2027 four-door EV has already been unveiled, looking a lot like the radical-looking Concept AMG GT XX. The GT 55 starts at €154,700 – about $176,000 at current exchange rates – in Germany, though U.S. pricing has yet to be disclosed.
Mercedes-AMG
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