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Mercedes-AMG is exploring an electric version of the AMG GT sports coupé - but it needs to “justify the investment” said the performance brand’s boss.

AMG has already confirmed an electric successor to the GT 4-door Coupé will arrive next year, previewed by the GT XX Concept (below). It will be the first car to sit on the 800V AMG.EA platform, which will also be used for the brand’s incoming super-SUV due in 2027.

Now AMG boss Michael Schiebe has said work is underway to see if a battery-electric version of the two-door GT is viable.

“There is an emotional discussion and a rational discussion,” said Schiebe said at the Munich motor show. ”Emotionally, yes, we should do that. The question is whether there is a market that is big enough to justify the investment that is necessary, at least from a technology point of view, we know how to do that.”

A key focus for AMG is which customers the car will target. The ICE model (below) is currently bought mainly as a second car for “those who love driving”, so the EV would need to focus on that also, said Schiebe.

But, he said, the brand hasn’t put a timeframe on when they would bring it to market and is “flexible” on a launch date - for example, it could accelerate the programme if interest in electric performance cars suddenly rockets over the next few years.

He explained: “We are at the moment trying to understand what's going on in the market. And then we define the target picture of that very specific car.”

Mercedes has some form in this space, having previously built an electric version of the old AMG SLS - and used it to set an EV lap record at the Nürburgring. However, it was only ever sold in extremely low numbers and was retired without a direct successor.

If green-lit, Scheibe said a new EV coupé would continue to be sold alongside the combustion model, which the brand will “continue to invest in” well into the next decade.

“I would say we are very successful with our combustion-engined GT 2-door,” he said. “So we will focus on that first and then let's see when the right point and time is there to launch a two-door EV.”

He added: “We want to be in terms of technology and performance successful, but also economically successful. We do whatever is, let's say, worth investing the money. And at the moment, I would say we are more successful investing into our two door combustion engine platform than doing this on the electric side. But here we are flexible, so flexible because we are constantly reviewing our portfolio and looking into that.”

Ultimately, Schiebe hinted that such a model might be brought to market as a halo car, regardless of its commercial viability. “Sometimes you make a car which is not the most profitable one, but you do it because it's so important for the brand, and it's like, you need to do it because it's a brand-shaper."

If AMG does build an electric version of the GT, it could serve as the first direct rival to the Maserati Granturismo Folgore, which is currently the only EV super-coupé on sale. Rivals including the Porsche 911, Aston Martin Vantage and Ferrari Amalfi remain exclusively combustion-powered - and will do for several years to come.

Like so many other things, tyre design is falling under the influence of AI. The tech is being used to predict the effectiveness of different tread patterns and simulate how they might behave in the real world.

Tyres have come a long way during their evolution, and this is one of those cases where a glimpse back into the past helps put things in perspective.

It’s just over 120 years since the first tread of any kind appeared, and although Dunlop was on the verge of adding simple grooves to its previously smooth tyres, Continental just pipped it (and other tyre makers) to the post.

A Dunlop ad of 1906 read: “This is the NON-SLIPPING DUNLOP TYRE you’ve heard so much about.” But three years earlier a Continental newspaper advert tempted visitors to the German motor show in Frankfurt with: “The 100mm pneumatic tire fits 85 and 90mm rims. The 125mm pneumatic tire fits 120mm rims. Both tyre types are available in smooth and anti-slip versions.”

Back then, the simple ‘anti-slip’ grooves, longitudinal in the case of the German manufacturer and transverse for Dunlop, were cut by hand, but these days tread patterns are a lot more complex.

Some tread patterns may look like a fairly random arrangement of grooves and chunks of rubber, while others are more ordered, but they are all meticulously engineered to serve a purpose and all have similar features and components.

They all have blocks, which are the protruding parts of the tread in contact with the surface, and it’s the sharp edges of these blocks that play a major part in generating grip.

Grooves are the spaces between the blocks, and they channel water away and may be arranged in different directions. Multiple cross-grooves complement the main grooves around the tyre’s circumference.

Ribs are solid circumferential bands giving stability and sharp steering, but perhaps the cleverest features are the sipes, fine slits in the blocks whose role is to improve the flexibility of the tread.

Each sipe creates more edges, which increases grip, while complex three-dimensional sipes in snow tyres trap snow to, surprisingly perhaps, grip packed snow and ice on the road surface (snow sticks very well to snow – think making a snowball or snowman).

This overlooked, 120-year-old technology is fiendishly complex, and it’s why computer-aided design and simulation plays such a big part in improving performance.

Tyre developers come up with the technical structure comprising the elements, then industrial designers create a distinctive pattern – because appearance matters, too.

AI is becoming important because, looking beyond the hype over what it can and can’t do, it is particularly good at analysing vast amounts of data in a level of detail that often wasn’t possible before.

In this case, its use to optimise tread patterns in the virtual world before a test tyre is made should prove invaluable and, hopefully, lead to better performance and grip.