Like many European automakers, Mercedes-Benz has a high-performance tuning store that makes quicker variations of its common vehicles. That used to imply squeezing greater and greater engines beneath hoods.

More and more, although, it means getting extra environment friendly. Automakers are studying to get extra energy out of greener applied sciences.

For 2025, Mercedes’ AMG efficiency store embraces that logic. Essentially the most high-performance model of its GLC compact SUV shall be supplied as a plug-in hybrid (PHEV). Essentially the most excessive version of the 2025 Mercedes-AMG GLC will swap eight cylinders for 4 and, within the course of, acquire over 200 horsepower.

The GLC it’s based mostly on was up to date for the 2023 mannequin yr. The 2025 AMG-GLC will are available in two variations. The gas-powered AMG-GLC 43 will seem as a 2024 mannequin. The PHEV AMG-GLC 63 will arrive a yr later.

Pricing for every is a thriller. We predict a sticker close to $70,000 for the gas-powered model and as a lot as $80,000 for the extra advanced hybrid.

Two Variations: Fast and Faster

The GLC 43 will use a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine with an electrical exhaust-gas turbocharger, which is nice for 416 horsepower. A belt-driven starter generator provides 13 extra for a short burst at low speeds.

The opposite is the headline-grabber. The GLC 63 combines the identical engine with an electrical motor on the rear axle to ship a mixed 671 hp.

Plug-in hybrids are able to driving a ways on electrical energy alone earlier than their gasoline engines even begin. Mercedes hasn’t revealed the electric-only vary of the GLC 63 however says it “permits all-electric driving beneath sure circumstances.”

The closest equal in the marketplace could be the BMW XM Label Purple. It’s not an ideal analog. It’s bigger and heavier and makes use of a V8 engine mixed with an electrical motor. BMW says the XM Label Purple can journey as much as 52 miles on electrical energy alone. However that determine was achieved utilizing extra lenient European calculations. The US Environmental Safety Company figures have a tendency to indicate a lot shorter ranges.

Mercedes says the gasoline engine up entrance and the electrical motor within the rear “ensures a balanced weight distribution.”

Enhanced Suspension, Rear-Wheel Steering

Each variations get a suspension with lively dampers backing up metal springs. Drivers can swap between Consolation, Sport, and Sport+ modes. Mercedes guarantees the suspension “combines sporty driving dynamics with a excessive degree of consolation for long-distance journeys.”

The suspension settings additionally alter the steering ratios, offering “considerably extra suggestions to the motive force” in Sport modes. Rear-wheel steering is customary — the rear wheels flip reverse to the entrance wheels under 62 mph and with the entrance at increased speeds.

Visible Clues You’re Coping with an AMG

The GLC 43 and GLC 63 every get a particular grille that identifies an AMG product. It replaces the horizontal bar of abnormal GLC fashions with vertical strakes and wears a bigger 3-point-star emblem.

Within the rear, AMG fashions get a big diffuser flanked by 4 trapezoidal exhaust ports and a roof-mounted spoiler. An obtainable Evening Bundle darkens all of them, together with the window surrounds and grille strakes.

Inside, the AMG-specific steering wheel comes wrapped in actual Nappa leather-based, whereas the seats are upholstered within the model’s MB-Tex fake leather-based. For those who like the true stuff, it’s an choice on the seats. An AMG brand is embossed on the headrests when coated in Nappa leather-based.