Well, this is interesting. Earlier this week, Audi boss Gernot Döllner confirmed to Top Gear that the company was working on fake gearshifts for its new, as-yet-unnamed sports car. And now, Mercedes-AMG chief Michael Schiebe has also confirmed that the production version of the Concept AMG GT XX will get similar tech, plus a fake V8 soundtrack.
“It’s so important,” said Schiebe about computer-generated sound in an electric AMG. “Buying an AMG has never been a rational decision. It’s a very emotional decision. This is why our future cars have to deliver on two pillars. One of course, is that they have to be high-performance cars. We are a performance brand. But on the other side, they have to deliver in terms of emotion.
“We have a very strong history and heritage with our V8s. You know, one man to one engine, the sound, et cetera. This is why, at the very beginning of the development of the AMG.EA architecture, we already thought that we need to have great sound and a combustion-like drive mode.”
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The production version of the four-door GT XX is set to arrive next year, with AMG’s bespoke all-electric SUV following shortly after on the same AMG.EA platform. Like the look of the record-breaking GT XX in concept form? We’re told it’s 80% ready for production.
It should be pretty fun to drive, too, especially if it retains the concept’s 1,340hp output and adds in some simulated gearshifts. We love the fake eight-speed in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. Who wouldn’t want an extra bit of driver involvement in a performance car?
“Human beings, we just stick to our habits,” said Schiebe. “This is why we said that our axial flux motor needs to be the electric V8 of Mercedes-AMG. This is why we invested so much money into it, but we will definitely make sure that sound, driving dynamics, and other trigger points in the car will give you feedback that you have never experienced in another electric car.”
“And it’s not just the sound. We hired software engineers from the music industry a couple of years ago, and we teamed them up with our engineers from the powertrain application department. We wanted to make sure that those software engineers weren’t just creating any sound and putting it into an AMG—we said that we need to have gearshifting, sound, feelings of RPMs. Everything needs to be transferred into the electric era.”
“When I was driving the first prototypes, it [the simulated gearbox] was okay, but in the meantime, it has become so damn good.”
Well, this is certainly very promising. Let’s just hope Merc ditches the concept car’s yoke-style steering wheel while it’s plumbing in the paddles behind.
“We are working on the electric car to make it as V8-like as possible. I’m reading things about ‘fake sound, fake sound, fake sound.’ I don’t care about that at all, as long as it is damn good. Customers love the emotion, so we need to create the best emotions possible.”
NOTE: This story first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
