A few months ago, I found myself on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, or EPE, just outside Delhi. In front of me was an empty stretch of concrete road and under my right foot was the ability to control 600 horsepower or thereabouts. I was driving the Mercedes-Benz AMG E63S and without incriminating myself, the car can go fast. The four-litre twin-turbocharged V8 motor under the hood of this car converts pure high-octane dinosaur juice into sheer sound and acceleration.
They say that Apollo astronauts aboard the US’ Saturn V rocket—the most powerful heavy-lift vehicle ever built—felt a force of around 3G, or three times the force of gravity when the rocket lit up. When you colloquially ‘put the pedal to the metal’, you are almost brutally pushed back into your seat as you try and keep your eyes on the road. The truck that was a couple of kilometres ahead a few seconds ago, comes up rather quickly.
But this is not a review of the E63S, which is undoubtedly an amazing piece of machinery. As I wrote in my words on the Audi RS7, a competing car, these vehicles are not meant for a world where environmental and social responsibility has become a thing. As I drove the E63S, I believed that it was only a matter of time before Mercedes-Benz put its ‘AMG’ badge on an electric car.
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AMG stands for quality
Those of you who follow Formula 1 would know that Mercedes-AMG is the name of the F1 team run by the German automobile manufacturer. But AMG has an older history. It was founded in 1967 by two ex-Mercedes engineers, Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher, in the town of Affalterbach to tune up Mercedes-Benz sedans. AMG did this by not only shoving in more and more powerful engines but also changing everything from the suspension to, in some cases, even the bodywork. It modified the latter so that the cars could handle the excessive amount of power flowing through their system. The cars that AMG made were so popular among enthusiasts that Mercedes-Benz bought the company and makes and marketed AMG vehicles themselves.
But there is one thing about AMG vehicles. The Stuttgart-based carmaker doesn’t slap on the AMG badge without making changes to their cars. Sure, you have entry-level AMG cars now, vehicles such as the A35 AMG—a 300-horsepower small sedan that isn’t much bigger than a Honda City but deserves the epithet ‘pocket rocket’. Sales of performance AMG vehicles are skyrocketing in India and across the world, along with others like the GLC 43 AMG, which is styled like an ‘SUV Coupe’. Even these ‘baby’ AMG cars drove like their pants were on fire. So, an electric AMG from the Mercedes-Benz EQ division would also need to have some serious numbers and performance. And the EQS 53 AMG fits the bill, on all counts.
Let me begin with the headline number. It has 760 horsepower. Just wrap your head around that for a second. This power is almost as much as ten Maruti Swifts combined. And it’s not just absolute numbers—an AMG is supposed to deliver spine-melting acceleration, and this car can go from 0-100 in under 3.5 seconds, that too on ‘comfort’ mode. Yes, we know that electric vehicles are meant to accelerate fast, but we also know that high-speed discharging and big motors need heavy-duty cooling and wiring to keep going. And this car has that.
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Comfort, performance, luxury
Just like most AMG cars, the E63S manages to perform while ensuring supreme comfort, even highlighting what the future ‘automobile cockpit’ would feel like. I kid you not when I tell you that the entire dashboard is one continuous high-definition screen. It feels like you’re piloting the Starship Enterprise, and not from the original series either. This car will go fast and furious around corners, but you can also speed it up while listening to high-quality tunes through its excellent Burmeister sound system while enjoying a warm, activated shoulder massage. The biggest selling point of AMG cars is just that—mind-blowing performance when you need it with the ability to become a regular luxury sedan when you don’t.
This is a comfortable car, but the notchback tail design—similar to Skoda Octavia’s—and the smaller overall proportions compared to Mercedes-Benz’s larger S-Class sedans may put some buyers off. It was the lack of sound that really got to me. Piped artificial noises, both inside and outside, felt wrong but I guess this is what the future will sound like. The low-frequency rumble of an AMG will, like many petrol cars, also become a thing of the past. It shall be missed. I definitely did not miss the other aspect of the AMG ownership experience, which is to fill Rs 10,000 worth of premium 97-Octane petrol every 300-400 kilometres. Maybe 500, if one was gentle. It is also quite convenient to charge the car at home, and even if you drive it like an utter hoon, when you see the negative power numbers on the screen as the car recuperates energy, you realise that this is by far the most affordable AMG to run, ever.
At worst, the EQS 53 will give you four kilometres per kilowatt-hour of battery power, which at residential rates in Delhi works out to Rs 2/km. Sure, you don’t buy an AMG car looking at the fuel bills, but it does help when you consider them. And when you’re stuck in traffic, you won’t feel guilty about burning away petrol.
If this is an indication of the future of performance cars, it is a very good one. Sure, at Rs 2.45 crore, it isn’t cheap. And for lovers of sonorous engines, where pistons go up and down instead of electrons whizzing around, it feels strange. But the AMG badge does not come easy and once a car gets it, it has to deliver. This car does, and how.
@kushanmitra is an automotive journalist based in New Delhi. Views are personal.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)