Mercedes-AMG Planning SLR Successor Despite Ruling Out Hypercar?

Just a few days ago, it was confirmed by none other than chairman of Mercedes-AMG, Tobias Moers, that the marque would not create a hypercar like the Porsche 918 Spyder or McLaren P1.

While that may be true, local German publication Auto Bild claims that a new high-performance model could still be in the works from Mercedes-AMG.

It is claimed that the ever-popular performance division of Mercedes-Benz is mulling over creating a successor to the SLR McLaren of last decade. The SLR McLaren initially competed with the Porsche Carrera GT and Ferrari Enzo at the upper-echelon of the market, but seeing as those two companies have entered the hypercar realm, it seems apparent that any new SLR would have to find some new rivals to go head-to-head against.

It is claimed that Mercedes-AMG is tossing up between a front-engined or mid-engined layout for the new model. If the former was to be adopted, it would be underpinned by the Modular Sports Architecture currently under development for the next-gen SL-Class. If that were the case, power could be provided by a supercharged V6 driving the rear wheels and when combined with an electric motor for the front axle, 650 hp could be on the cards.

If a mid-engined layout is adopted, it would obviously result in an entirely different car. Despite Moers announcement that a hypercar isn’t in the works, Auto Bild believes the mid-engined option would likely result in a hybrid powertrain delivering over 1000 hp. If such a car is created (unlikely), production could be capped to 750 units.

Of the two, the front-engined car certainly seems the most probable as it would act as the company’s range-topping sports car/supercar by outperforming the Mercedes-AMG GT.