Mercedes-AMG GT four-door: Geneva 2018

Affalterbach certainly can't be accused of doing things by halves, adding three new cars to its GT line-up in one show

Following on from last year's Geneva reveal of the rather stunning - if a little gaudy - AMG GT Concept, hopes were high for a glimpse of a production car at this year's event. Well the news is good, very good in fact, in that what we instead have is not one, not even two, but three four-doored additions to the AMG GT range.

Now, Mercedes has already managed to make the naming of its GT line-up unnecessarily convoluted. Currently you can buy an AMG GT, GT S, GT C or GT R, as well as convertible versions of the GT and GT C - no, C doesn't stand for convertible. So when it comes to adding three more four-door models to the range, something along the lines of AMG GT+, GT+ S and GT+ C - leaving the two-door GT R as the standalone pinnacle of AMG performance - would seem the obvious choice, right? Wrong. Instead Merc has reverted back to its traditional naming system for these cars, and thus given us the GT 53, GT 63, and GT 63 S.

This raises another point, specifically that Mercedes-AMG already has several very convincing fifty and sixty three named cars, all of which offer the practicality of a saloon or estate with the blistering performance of a two-door coupe. So when the claim that the four-door GT "offers more space and greater versatility" is made, it's hard to see why someone looking for those traits wouldn't just opt for something like the excellent E63 S estate.

You can never have too much choice, though, so let's get on with seeing how this lot stack up. As the entry level model, the GT 53 is powered by a 3.0-litre inline-six, producing 435hp and 385lb ft of torque. Uniquely to this car, however, the addition of Mercedes' EQ technology allows for an electrified bump of 22hp and 185lb ft, bestowing it with a 0-62 time of 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 177mph.

Next up we have the GT 63. Sitting in the middle of the range, it makes use of a 'hot-V' biturbo V8 engine, delivering 585hp and 590lb ft of torque. The sprint from 0 to 62mph taking just 3.4 seconds, with a top speed of 192mph.

At the top of the tree sits the GT 63 S, drawing its strength from the same twin-turbo motor which here puts out 640hp and - between 2500 and 4500rpm - a maximum torque figure of 665lb ft. That's good for 0-62mph in 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 195mph.

All three cars use AMG's nine-speed automatic transmission and AMG Performance 4MATIC+ all-wheel drive with variable torque distribution. The GT 63 S, however, gets the added benefit of an E63 S-style 'drift mode'.

There's no word on pricing or options yet, although, while Mercedes describes the interior as being "characterised by elegant coolness" and "ultra-modern features" the press release is also heavy with mentions of 'individualisation' and 'equipment packages'. So whatever the list price is, expect there to be a typically large number of ways to escalate it very quickly indeed.

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