ONE

Segment
Coupe

According to the latest online rumor, the Mercedes-AMG One hypercar will finally go into production in 2022. This news comes just a month after discovering that it wasn't going to make its debut in late 2021.

Apparently, Mercedes-AMG has sent a letter to customers who ordered this limited-run model, stating that it will be built in 2022. Only 275 will be made, and Sir Lewis Hamilton is one of the lucky ones.

To be blunt, we're not surprised the One's production has been delayed so many times. It's Mercedes-AMG's most ambitious project by a significant margin, boasting a 1.6-liter V6 plug-in hybrid powertrain borrowed directly from an F1 car.

When last we heard, the power output was said to be around 1,200 horsepower.

It's one thing saying you'll be using F1 power for the road, but quite another to get it right. An F1 car only lasts for two hours, but Merc's road cars are known for lasting a bit longer than that. We're reminded of the Bugatti Veyron, which was also delayed several times while the engineers figured out how to keep a 230 mph car on the road.

The engine Mercedes is using is based on the 2017 award-winning F1 car's engine. Since Mercedes can't use the same trick aerodynamics as an F1 car, it had to resort to using all-wheel-drive.

As we understand, the most significant delay was due to the car not being emissions compliant. It couldn't meet WLTP emissions certification while producing more than 1,000 hp. The other issue was getting the engine to operate at idle speeds. It's not a problem on a track where the idle speed is around 5,000 rpm, but 1,200 rpm is a more realistic figure in the real world. And the F1 engine Mercedes-AMG used simply wasn't built to idle.

Then the whole world went into lockdown, which made it impossible to complete the standard homologation process. We've been seeing way more spy shots of the One recently, and we think that homologation is the one final hurdle before production can start.