At the Nardò Ring, the legendary high-speed test circuit in Nardò, Italy — for decades the place where the world’s fastest cars push their limits — Mercedes-AMG recently broke no fewer than 25 long-distance records with its CONCEPT AMG GT XX and drove ‘around the world in 8 days’. This is promising, given that this electric four-door Super GT serves as a preview of a production version that we can already expect in the course of 2026.
Text: Anja Van Der Borght
The record for the greatest distance ever covered by an electric car in 24 hours was just one of the many records the CONCEPT AMG GT XX achieved with a convincing margin. The CONCEPT AMG GT XX covered 5,479 km in 24 hours, around 38 percent farther than the previous record of 3,961 km set by the Xpeng P7. But the extreme test lasted much longer than 24 hours. The aim was to drive around the world at high speed in eight days, proving the long-distance performance of the electric AMG powertrain. The name of the challenge was a nod to Jules Verne’s famous novel: Around the World in 80 Days.
Preview of series production
From historic triumphs in motorsport to legendary records on race and test circuits, Mercedes-AMG has long stood for the pursuit of ultimate performance. With the record run in Nardò, the performance brand from Affalterbach wanted to spotlight the strength of the upcoming AMG.EA high-performance “Electric Architecture.”
With its three extremely compact axial-flux motors (two at the rear and one at the front, with a combined output of more than 1,000 kW) and a battery featuring F1-inspired technologies such as direct cooling and high-voltage circuits, the CONCEPT AMG GT XX is the precursor to revolutionary powertrain technologies that are expected to enter series production next year with the introduction of AMG.EA. Axial-flux motors offer significant advantages over conventional electric motors: they are more powerful while also lighter and more compact. Their power density is around three times higher, while they take up only a third of the installation space. In addition, the motors deliver higher continuous power and more torque.
“As a Formula 1 driver, I’m used to pushing technology to the limit, the CONCEPT AMG GT XX really impressed me. The axial-flux motors respond as directly and precisely as a Formula 1 powertrain, but with continuous power that I’ve only experienced with combustion engines. This technology is going to revolutionize the driving experience, both on the track and on the road.”
— George Russell, driver for the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team
Ultra-fast charging
Because the motors and the battery are put under the greatest strain during high-load driving and fast charging cycles, the record run followed an exceptionally demanding schedule. The CONCEPT AMG GT XX had to cover as many kilometers as possible in the shortest possible time. The drivers maintained a constant speed of 300 km/h and stopped only to charge (and once because it was raining too hard). We were able to experience just how impressive that speed is ourselves during a few laps of the circuit at 250 km/h.
Equally impressive was the charging infrastructure in partnership with Alpitronic. With an average output of around 850 kW, it delivered far more than the 400 kW current charging infrastructure can provide, resulting in extremely short charging times. In just 5 minutes, enough energy can be added for a range of around 400 km (WLTP), a benchmark for EV performance. This once again underscores the future-proof capabilities of this production-ready powertrain.
After each charging stop, the electric GT accelerated back up to 300 km/h, day and night, for 8 days. Although the car was capable of significantly higher speeds, the engineers deliberately set the top speed at 300 km/h. Extensive simulations showed that this pace offered the optimal balance between driving speed and charging stops, delivering the fastest overall time.
In the early morning of 25 August 2025, the mission was accomplished. The distance of 40,075 km was covered in exactly 7 days, 13 hours, 24 minutes and 0.7 seconds, better than the targeted 8 days. Along the way, the CONCEPT AMG GT XX also set various other records and even passed the milestone of 25,000 miles.
Confirmed twice over
It wasn’t just one CONCEPT AMG GT XX that successfully completed the extremely demanding program, it was two. Both cars set off simultaneously for the record run and, after more than 7.5 days of continuous operation and a full trip around the world, crossed the finish line only 25 km apart, equivalent to barely two laps of the Nardò test circuit.
Completing this challenge twice within 8 days convincingly highlights the exceptional long-term performance of the powertrain. “The powertrain defines what an AMG is,” says Michael Schiebe, Chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-AMG GmbH and Head of the Mercedes-Benz G-Class & Mercedes-Maybach divisions. “Even in the electric world, our drive system has to impress across the board. That is why we are the first manufacturer to use axial-flux motors and directly liquid-cooled batteries in fully electric models. We have now impressively demonstrated how unmatched these technologies are.”
Facts & figures
The record run covered 3,177 laps on the 12.68 km-long Nardò circuit. The experienced drivers completed 2-hour stints in a race that continued day and night. The CONCEPT AMG GT XX covered an average of more than 5,300 km per day. Conditions were far from ideal: during the day, the temperature in the shade rose to as high as 35°C, and even higher in direct sunlight on the open track. Yet the revolutionary powertrain performed flawlessly throughout the entire test.
