The Mercedes-AMG One hypercar was due for release in 2019, but that date has been pushed back by at least nine months. A new proposed date is set well into 2020, this according to recent reports on the new model.

F1 powerplant

For those who don’t already know, the Mercedes-AMG One will feature the same internal combustion engine as the firm’s championship-winning F1 cars; a turbocharged 1,6-litre, V6. In this, road-car application it will be good for around 500 kW. To extract that level of power from a small capacity engine it has to rev to over 11 000 r/min.

Click here to watch our video review of the Mercedes-AMG GT63 S.

Unsurprisingly, the current setback revolves around emissions control. In a recent chat with Top Gear magazine AMG boss Tobias Moers said that getting the small engine to idle at low revs is proving a real challenge.

“Getting a stable idle at 1 200 r/min, that’s challenging. To give you a simple example. You have leakage in the throttles in Formula 1, and nobody cares, because it runs at a 5 000 r/min idle. At a 1 200 r/min idle, you have to meet the emissions regulations. You need a stable, proper idle. If it’s unstable, your emissions are unstable.”

Owners of the limited-edition Mercedes-AMG One, all of which have already been spoken for, aren’t worried about the delay. According to Moers the response from owners has been: “Make sure that the car works. Because of what we experienced in the past with hybrid cars, take your time.”

Performance

The Mercedes-AMG One is a hybrid model that employs four electric motors in conjunction with the petrol-fed engine. Two motors drive the front wheels, a 120 kW unit is attached to the V6 engine’s crank, and an 80 kW unit is fitted within the turbocharger itself. Total system power is rated at over 800 kW.

Coupled with a mass of just 1 200 kg the One is said to sprint from zero-to-100 km/h in under 3,0 seconds and races on to 200 km/h in under 6,0 seconds. Top speed is quoted as over 350 km/h. Though, AMG has stated from day one that top speed was never this car’s ultimate goal. Instead, AMG will be trying to replicate the track sensations of driving an F1 car.

Thanks to the two motors driving the front wheels the AMG One is all-wheel drive. Performance-driven torque vectoring algorithms means that owners will not need to possess the driving skills of Lewis Hamilton or Valtteri Bottas to enjoy their cars on road and track.

Learn more about the technical aspects of the car by clicking here.