Ooooh, I like trucks...

It's what's in the truck that's important.

What's that then?

The new Mercedes-AMG One hybrid hypercar.

I thought it was called the Project One?

That was just a working name; now the company has confirmed it'll be simply sold as the One. Actually, it stylises it as 'ONE', but we're not going to get all shouty, even if the technical make-up of this motor justifies it.

Remind me again...

Mercedes-AMG has claimed from the start that the One will be as close to a Formula One car for the road as anyone can get. We've heard that phrase before, but we're taking more notice this time around, as the One has genuinely been developed by the same people that engineer the Mercedes-AMG F1 racers, and it even uses one of their engines. It's a weedy 1.6-litre. I say weedy, but it's a V6, is turbocharged and revs to 11,000rpm, so alone it can produce around 760hp. That's clearly not enough for the hypercar club, so the One also uses incredibly clever hybrid technology (again, straight from Formula One) to boost maximum output to 1,035hp. There's a total of four electric motors, incidentally.

Anything else from F1?

Yes, plenty. Today's announcement mentioned the use of a sophisticated active rear wing that extends in multiple stages, balancing the aerodynamic load to the conditions and producing maximum downforce when the driver selects the Race setting. There's also an active front splitter and super-cool looking active flaps over the front wheels.

Awesome. How much?

About £2.4 million, which sounds ludicrous until you hear that Mercedes-AMG had enough serious orders to cover double the planned 275-unit production run.

Ok, back to that truck.

That is no ordinary truck; that is a mobile showroom for the Mercedes-AMG One, called 'The Future of Driving Performance' and it allows future owners to get close to the car and configure theirs while they're waiting around. Don't expect to be let in without an invite...

Shane O' Donoghue - 27 Sep 2018