Mercedes goes fast and curious with new electric car

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Mercedes is hoping there’s a market for a high-end electric car that sounds and feels as if it has a V8 petrol engine under the bonnet. Its £160,000 AMG GT 63 coupé, which got its close-up yesterday from the automotive press, is fully battery-powered but emits a synthesised engine roar and transmits the feel of a gas-guzzler to the driver with what Autocar calls “haptic feedback through the seat structure”. It also pretends to have a gearbox. Global EV sales slumped in the first two months of the year but have picked up dramatically since Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz drove up oil prices by $50 per barrel in a month.