Features / 13 August 2022 / Albert du Toit

Awesome photos of Mercedes-AMG’s first hypercar being built

Mercedes-AMG has started series production of the first customer unit of its first hypercar, the One.

Only 275 of this “F1 car for the road” will be built at a price of $2.7 million (R44 million) per example, each One finding an owner long before the first test unit even made its way onto a track.

Mercedes has partnered up with Multimatic to hand-build its special vehicle inside a dedicated small-series production facility in Coventry, UK, near the Mercedes‑AMG High-Performance Powertrains centre in Brixworth which is building the hypercar’s power units.

The One is the most ambitious project the manufacturer has ever undertaken, said chairman of the board of management of Mercedes‑AMG, Philipp Schiemer, coming with a series of “truly unique challenges.”

16 production stations

The One visits a total of 16 assembly and testing stations from inception until it rolls out of the factory doors.

These production steps include:

Station 1 to 4 – Assembly of mechanical parts, low-voltage components, and essential powertrain components
Station 5 to 6 – Assembly of high-voltage battery and connections, test runs of engine and electric motors, and commissioning of vehicle
Station 7 – Interior installation
Station 8 to 10 – Exterior body panel installation
Station 11 – Assembly of wheels and floor panels
Station 12 – Adjustment of wheels and headlamps
Station 13 – Testing all drive modes on roller dynamometer
Station 14 – Four-post noise, vibration, and harshness testing
Station 15 – Monsoon rain test
Station 16 – Light booth with visual inspection of all surfaces and test of all technical functions

To ensure structural integrity as well as the fit and finish is on par with Mercedes standards, certain parts are first assembled and tested for function and then disassembled again to wait for installation into the vehicle.

This includes the carbon fibre monocoque as well as all the entire carbon fibre outer skin, which at certain locations is only 1.2mm thick.

In total, over 50 specialists work on each individual One, and in-depth quality checks are performed after each station before the vehicle rolls off the line.

The final stage of the testing sees the AMG taken around a “nearby proving ground” by a factory driver and as soon as their approval is given, the vehicle is boxed up and sent to Germany.

Each customer handover of a One will take place at Mercedes-AMG’s headquarters in Affalterbach and will be accompanied by a technical briefing from an expert that was involved in the development of the famous automaker’s first hypercar.

Mercedes-Benz South Africa confirmed to TopAuto that “there are plans to bring the [Mercedes-AMG One] cars to South Africa” – but unfortunately, the company was tight-lipped about the finer details and it remains to be seen how many will arrive on local roads and when they will get here.