Reaction to Mercedes-AMG’s new electric 4-Door GT has certainly split the room. Its gaping gob, rounded surfacing and unconventional rear have set the comment sections at each other’s throats. For all the prancing horses in this world, though, it could look a lot worse than it does.

Read: Mercedes-AMG’s Upcoming EV Looks Bland, But Will Let The Performance Do The Talking

Whether buyer sentiment overpowers internet diatribe remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure: AMG are amping up momentum with a high-riding, SUV counterpart that brings supercar performance to a more user-friendly package.

Slipping Through The Wind

AMG’s crossover will borrow heavily from the GT sedan’s aesthetic playbook. Our spy shot-based illustration reveals a taller, more practical body with a low-slung ‘Panamericana’ nose and a slim, full-width light strip. Large intakes, shapely front fenders and a heavily sculpted hood exude a go-fast presence.

Also: Hyundai’s IONIQ V Has Lambo Looks And 225 HP, So We Imagined The N

In profile, a long wheelbase in tandem with a relatively low roofline cements a planted stance. Flush  door handles, large wheels and pronounced rear haunches also contribute to the look. Out back, the tri-circle taillights are housed in a better-resolved black panel than the GT sedan, and an integrated roof spoiler is more function than form. Whether it gains the sedan’s optional active ‘Aerokinetics’ rear diffuser remains to be seen.

Nightclub On Wheels

The interior of the new AMG GT 4-Door Coupe EV.

The cabin will largely be copy-pasted from the sedan, with extra cargo space thrown in. Expect a 14-inch driver-oriented digital instrument cluster and a 10.2-inch infotainment display running Mercedes-Benz MB.OS software. The MBUX-based system also brings over-the-air updates, connected services, and AI integration.

Also: A Bill Built To Stop Chinese Cars Could Ban Mercedes From America

Other goodies will include an augmented-reality head-up display, Burmester 4D surround sound, performance telemetry, and customizable drive modes. Red contrast stitching, heavily bolstered Alcantara sports seats, and carbon fiber trim will finish off the performance look inside.

The Fundamentals

SH Proshots

AMG’s hyper SUV will ride on the automaker’s AMG.EA architecture, developed exclusively for high-performance vehicles. The aluminium-intensive structure is abundant with high-strength materials and weight-saving measures.

Read: Nissan’s New Skyline Is Coming To America As The Q50, And It May Bring Back The Manual

Its higher center of gravity is kept in check with adaptive air suspension, rear-axle steering and active roll stabilization. Advanced torque-vectoring and chassis management help the sports driving experience.

Flux Power

Mirroring its sedan sibling, the electric powertrain will feature axial-flux motors developed by YASA, which are compact and lighter compared to radial-flux motors. 

Also: 2027 BMW X5 Drops Door Handles For Wings, Adds A 435-Mile Electric iX5

The headline act is the GT 63 tri-motor configuration, with 1153 horsepower (860 kW) and 1475 ft-lbs (2000 Nm) of torque. Power is fed to all four wheels, enabling a 0-60 mph time in about 2.5 seconds. The lower-powered GT 55 variant still offers a thumping 805 hp (600kW).

Power comes from a 106 kWh high-performance battery featuring cylindrical cells and advanced cooling. An F1-developed 800-volt architecture will support DC fast charging up to 600 kW in ideal conditions and offer a WLTP range of up to 435 miles (700 km). It will also feature synthesized gear shifting accompanied by a faux V8 soundtrack.

Rivals and Reveal

Mercedes-AMG’s flagship electric SUV will target the upper echelon of the performance market, taking on the Porsche Cayenne Electric, Lotus Eletre, and Xiaomi YU7 GT.

Related: Mercedes-AMG Plans 27 New Cars In 36 Months To Catch BMW’s M

With prototype testing underway, expect the production model to debut early next year. When it arrives, it will become the second model built on the AMG.EA platform.

Does the GT in SUV guise redeem the sedan’s controversial look? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Illustrations Josh Byrnes / Carscoops

Maextro has spent its first year proving a point. The Huawei-backed luxury brand sold more than 17,000 S800 sedans by charging a fraction of what Rolls-Royce and Maybach ask and burying buyers in technology. Now patent images out of China show it aiming the same playbook at the SUV class, with the Cullinan and every other luxury rival in its sights.

Also: Jaguar’s 1,000-HP Answer To Bentley Looks Nothing Like The Jaguar You Knew

Images show that it’s largely based on the successful Rolls-Royce Ghost-rivaling Maextro S800 sedan. This aligns with the automaker’s plans to further broaden its range, with six new models on the radar, including an MPV and the SUV illustrated here, unnamed for now but rumored to carry the X800 badge.

The Bold And The Ostentatious

If you want your McMansion neighbors to sit up and take notice, then Maextro will certainly do the trick with its bold 5.5-metre-long (over 216 inches) profile, rose gold highlights, and two-tone paintwork. The grille-less front is dominated by ‘C-clamp’ headlamps and dual-layer crystal DRLs, while the main lighting units feature dual-million-pixel ‘Galaxy’ elements that illuminate in a celestial manner.

Lower down, the front fascia features a rose gold mesh intake, and the hood has a central decorative spindle spanning between the badge and windscreen. Jarringly, a LiDAR unit juts out of the roof like a London Taxi, while the profile is highlighted by large polished alloys, flush door handles and thick rear pillars that accentuate its extra length.

Future Cars: We Stretched BMW’s Vision Alpina Until Bentley Had A Real Problem

From behind, the surfacing and details are restrained. A slim, full-width LED tail lamp cluster with multilayer projection is intersected by a rose gold applique and horizontal cutouts at the base of the bumper.

A Cabin Built Around Screens

The SUV’s cabin will likely borrow heavily from the S800 sedan pictured above.

Perhaps not as downright opulent as a Rolls-Royce, the SUV should do a pretty good job of blending luxury and tech-laden goodies. Like its S800 sedan sibling, it’s expected to feature three displays running Huawei’s HarmonyOS (driver, infotainment, and passenger) within a single panel. A large augmented reality head-up display should also be standard.

Future Cars: Bentley Hasn’t Shown The Barnato SUV’s Face Yet, So We Did It For Them

The celestial headlamp theme is likely to carry inside, with a panoramic roof scattering a constellation of lights. Expect surfaces trimmed in leather, chrome, or crystal, a long list of color combinations, and ambient lighting throughout. Count on at least 43 speakers, zero-gravity rear seats, and an entertainment system with a fold-down TV screen.

Electric And PHEV

Both plug-in hybrid and fully electric powertrains are expected. The PHEV should use a 1.5-litre four-cylinder gasoline engine purely as a generator, with the dual-motor setup said to produce 523 horsepower. A tri-motor version will push that to an enormous 852 horsepower. Capacity-wise, the PHEV battery will be good for at least 65 kWh.

Going for the all-electric will see power mirror the 523 hp (390 kW) PHEV variant, yet it will pack a larger 95 kWh battery good for a CLTC range of up to 435 miles (700 km). DC fast charging should be good for 10-80% charges within 12 minutes.

Rivals And Reveal

The list of targets is long, ranging from the Rolls-Royce Cullinan, Bentley Bentayga, and Mercedes-Maybach GLS to the Range Rover, Genesis GV90, Zeekr 9X, and BYD’s Yangwang U8.

For now it stays an eastern affair, so do not expect one in a US driveway anytime soon. JAC Motors handles production, and an official reveal is penciled in for the coming months.

Read: Mercedes, BMW, And Porsche Are Losing To A $104K Chinese Sedan Most Americans Can’t Pronounce

Pricing is still guesswork, but expect it to sit above the S800, which runs from ¥708,000 (around $104,000) to roughly ¥1,180,000 ($173,000) fully loaded. Either way it undercuts the ¥5,030,000 ($738,600) the Rolls-Royce Ghost commands in China, a figure nearly double the car’s $370,750 US price. That gap is the whole story behind the S800’s success at home, where it has been the best-selling luxury model above ¥700,000 ($103,000), beating every European rival, Maybach, the Mercedes S-Class, and the Porsche Panamera among them.

Patent images of the Maextro SUV

If those numbers hold, even a $120,000 starting point would land below a BMW iX (¥746,900), let alone the X7 (¥928,000), and a world below the Cullinan, which opens around ¥7.5 million, over $1 million in China once the heavy luxury and import taxes are added.

So which way would you go, the genuine article from Goodwood or the Huawei-backed upstart that promises to do most of the same things for a fraction of the outlay?

Mazda’s standing in the performance world right now is pretty thin, especially when you weigh it against a back catalog that includes the Mazdaspeed3 and 6, plus the RX-7 and RX-8. The MX-5 Miata still earns its keep with the purists, but beyond the roadster you have to rewind to the Mazdaspeed era and the days when the rotary ruled the roost to find anything that really mattered.

See: Jaguar’s 1,000-HP Answer To Bentley Looks Nothing Like The Jaguar You Knew

That got us thinking. What if Hiroshima’s quietly revived performance arm, Mazda Spirit Racing (MSR), turned its attention to the all-electric Mazda 6e and sharpened its claws? While there’s no indication that such a model is in development, we’ve envisioned what it could look like and explored its performance potential.

Subtle, But Sharp 

Mazda’s design team worked wonders reskinning the Deepal-based base 6e/EZ6, earning it the World Car of the Year Design award for 2026. Rather than ripping up the blueprints, we’ve taken a more restrained approach by giving it a lower, wider stance and aero-focused elements.

Up front, a closed-off grille sports a red-accented honeycomb pattern, while the bumper is reworked with deeper corner intakes and a pronounced splitter to aid front-end handling. In profile, the MSR’s pumped haunches wear larger, dark-finish alloys with Michelin Pilot Sport 5 rubber, while sculpted side skirts add visual aggression.

Around the back, our study sports a larger deployable spoiler, smoked taillights, and a diffuser that actually looks like it does something.

Luxury Focus

Inside, we’ve overhauled the cabin that’s more sport luxury than tarmac racer. The Nappa leather seats have been upgraded with deeper bolstering and RS-style honeycomb inserts. A thick-rim steering wheel, alloy pedals and unique graphics reinforce the performance brief.

See: BMW’s i3 Sedan Divided The Internet, So We Drew The i4 Coupe Instead

Customers have been vocal about the standard car’s reliance on the touchscreen, so our version brings physical controls back to the base of the infotainment display. The UX gains performance telemetry and driver-configurable drive modes.

Canyon Carving

The standard European market Mazda 6e.

The 6e’s Changan-derived, rear-drive setup hasn’t exactly blown critics away with its uninspiring handling and middling performance. We believe this could be overcome by improved hardware, such as stiffer bushings, lower ride height, and recalibrated electric power steering.

Other upgrades could include adaptive damping, thicker anti-roll bars, and larger brakes with 8-piston calipers. Electric motor torque vectoring would go beyond Mazda’s current G-Vectoring Control software, offering improved turn-in and exit speeds.

Variable drive modes would span from comfort to track, featuring aggressive regen mapping, simulated gear shifts, boost mode, and a stability control system that allows some rear-end slip to aid rotation.

Double Trouble

Unlike the donor car, we envisage the Spirit Racing 6e to be a dual-motor affair with up to 536 horsepower (400 kW). It would be all-wheel-drive, with adjustable rear bias. Performance metrics? Realistically, the 0-60 mph (96 km/h) sprint should be completed within the low 3-second mark.

Also: Nissan’s New Skyline Is Coming To America As The Q50, And It May Bring Back The Manual

Battery-wise, it’ll employ the same 78kWh Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery as standard, delivering a WLTP-rated range of up to 430 miles (550km). DC fast charging will enable 10–80% top ups in 24 minutes.

Amped Rivals

While proposed as a performance-handling EV, the 6e MSR would square against the Tesla Model 3 Performance and Hyundai Ioniq 6 N, rather than BMW’s insane upcoming quad-motor iM3. Other rivals could include the Polestar 2, the BYD Seal Performance, and the MG IM5 Performance.

Should the spirit of Mazdaspeed be revived with the 6e? We’d love to hear what you think in the comments below.