Aston Martin Baiting Mercedes-AMG About Their Project One

It has been nearly two years since Mercedes-AMG unveiled the Project One hypercar which is powered by a Formula 1 engine and, according to Mercedes-AMG, is the closest thing one will ever find to a street-legal race car.

All 275 examples have been sold for around $2,7 million each but not one of the owners has taken delivery, not even remotely close.

A new report from Auto Motor und Sport, claims that the delivery date has now been pushed back by nearly two years. That’s right. Those customers will have to wait until 2021. What’s going on? Is there a problem? Actually, yes, and it has to do with its engine.

The 1.6-litre hybrid V6 is connected to four electric motors which produce a combined output of around 1,200 hp. This is a very complex powertrain and they are struggling to adapt it to street-legal use. AMG engineers were surprised by the difficulties they encountered as they “underestimated the task” of prepping the unit for production purposes. Aston Martin and Red Bull, who are currently putting the finishing touches on the also F1-derived Valkyrie hypercar, couldn’t help but crack at a joke at their rival’s expense.

“Instead of Project One, they should now perhaps call the car Project Twenty-One,” one anonymous employee is quoted to have said.

We don’t doubt AMG engineers will figure things out, but long delays are typically never good.