Heritage · Mercedes-Benz AMG ONE
“We knew we could do more.”
2016 to 2022 · The conversion
A race unit learns the road
The premise was literal rather than merely inspired. Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains adapted the architecture of its 2016 Formula 1 unit: a 1.6-litre turbocharged V6, an electric machine on the turbo shaft, another at the crankshaft and two independently driven front motors. Together they deliver 782 kW, supported by a directly cooled 800-volt battery developed at Brixworth.
Road use imposed the harder assignment. The powertrain had to start at the press of a button, run on commercial fuel and pass road-car emissions rules without losing its 11'000 rpm character. Heated catalysts, particulate filters and control software turned a system normally attended by a pit crew into one car for one driver.
The hands
The people behind the car
The people whose work shaped the Mercedes-Benz AMG ONE.
Jochen Hermann
Former technical managing director · road conversion
A Daimler engineer from 1997, Hermann led AMG vehicle development from 2014 to 2016, then eDrive development and battery research before returning to Affalterbach as technical managing director in August 2020. During the ONE's final development he explained the exhaust-aftertreatment and software work required to make its Formula 1-derived hybrid road-certified and start at the press of a button.
Maro Engel
Nordschleife record driver · AMG ambassador
Munich-born Engel entered the DTM with Mercedes-AMG Motorsport in 2008 and has been an AMG brand ambassador since 2017. His career includes victories at the Nürburgring 24 Hours and Daytona and four Macau GT3 wins. Mercedes-AMG entrusted him with both ONE record programmes: 6:35.183 on 28 October 2022, then 6:29.090 on 23 September 2024 after simulator work on energy recovery, lift-and-coast and DRS.
Philipp Schiemer
Mercedes-AMG chairman · production launch
Schiemer joined Daimler in 1987, later holding A-Class product-management and Mercedes passenger-car marketing roles before becoming CEO of Mercedes-Benz do Brasil in 2013. Appointed chairman of Mercedes-AMG in August 2020, he led the company through the ONE's final development, road certification, June 2022 production reveal and first Nordschleife record.
Active aero · Every surface working
Air, made visible
The roof intake rises into a vertical shark fin while moveable louvres manage the front wheelhouses. Active flaps alter the front diffuser and a two-part rear wing extends behind the cockpit. In the track programmes the suspension drops, the aero moves to its high-downforce position and DRS releases drag for the straight.
The silver launch finish makes the Formula 1 lineage visible before any panel moves. Airbrushed three-pointed stars dissolve across the rear bodywork and a teal stripe traces the lower flank. The decoration follows the car's working surfaces rather than hiding them: intake, fin, NACA ducts, wing and central exhaust remain the composition.
2022
28 October 2022
First production-car record
Maro Engel starts his final attempt 29 seconds before the circuit closes and sets the official benchmark despite partly damp sections.
The ONE proves its Formula 1 energy-management concept over a complete Nordschleife lap.
Coventry to the Nordschleife
Built by hand, proved in public
Brixworth hot-tested the combustion engine, high-voltage battery, front axle and power electronics before those modules reached the dedicated Multimatic facility in Coventry. There, more than 50 specialists moved each car through 16 assembly and test stations, including a rolling road, a monsoon test and a light tunnel, before final acceptance and handover through Affalterbach.
Maro Engel then supplied the public proof. On a partly damp Nordschleife on 28 October 2022, his final attempt stopped the clock at 6:35.183. He returned in dry conditions on 23 September 2024 and, on his third timed lap, recorded 6:29.090 over the full 20.832 kilometres: the first road-legal production car below six minutes thirty on the official lap.
On the record
Milestones, on a line
The moments that set the AMG ONE's standing. Use the arrows, and hover a point to read what happened.
1 June 2022
Production form unveiled
Mercedes-AMG reveals the finished ONE and confirms 782 kW, four electric machines and a 352 km/h limited maximum speed.
The 2017 Project ONE promise becomes a homologated production specification.
August 2022
Coventry production begins
The dedicated Multimatic facility starts assembling the fixed run of 275 cars from hot-tested Brixworth powertrain modules.
The most ambitious AMG programme becomes a repeatable, documented manufacturing process.
28 October 2022
First production-car record
Maro Engel starts his final attempt 29 seconds before the circuit closes and sets the official benchmark despite partly damp sections.
The ONE proves its Formula 1 energy-management concept over a complete Nordschleife lap.
23 September 2024
Below six minutes thirty
In dry conditions, Engel lowers his own notarised production-car record by more than five seconds.
The ONE becomes the first road-legal production car below 6:30 on the official 20.832-kilometre lap.