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There is technology and then there is marketing. In 2022, Mercedes introduced the EQXX, a battery electric sedan that offered extraordinary range. It had styling that optimized its aerodynamic efficiency. Its battery had the same capacity as the EQS but weighed half as much. The result was a car that could travel more than 1000 km (620 miles) on a single charge.
There was only one problem. The EQXX did not look the way Mercedes customers expected their cars to look — large, imposing, and dominant. People don’t drop 150 large on a car just because it is efficient; they want to make a statement. But the EQXX — and the EQS — did not have the visual presence they wanted. You can build the most efficient car in the world, but if no one buys it, what’s the point?
We may carp about how appearances take priority over saving the world from an ecological disaster, but ignoring the wishes of the public is not a good business plan. So Mercedes went back to basics and came up with the AMG GT Coupe, a car with an intimidation factor that fairly shouts at other motorists, “Get out of my way!” There are lighted three-pointed stars in the headlights and the tail lights. Gone is the aerodynamically efficient front of the EQXX, which was replaced by a proper shark-like grille with a lighted Mercedes emblem in the center. The new look says, “This is a car not to be messed with!”
