The halo Mercedes-AMG division has its own high-end ideas – they’re called Mythos. And the Mercedes-AMG PureSpeed concept car is an ode not just to the brand but to the art of racing itself – complete with an F1 halo bar.
The first model in the ultra-limited, high-cost "Mythos" series, dubbed the PureSpeed, maybe a concept at the moment, but it will see the light of day – the ritzy one shared by the world’s one percent of the one-percenters, that is. For the rest of us, it’s a statement of refinement and performance – and an open-top two-seater roadster taking ample inspiration from the company’s legendary historic race cars and from Formula One.
Although Mercedes doesn’t overtly mention it, obviously, it’s abundantly clear their starting point isn’t a bespoke idea but the Mercedes-AMG SL convertible, as we can easily identify the headlights and taillights. On the other hand, there’s no Mercedes grille, and instead, the front fascia has a shark-like look with the lower grille painted black and an AMG logo dressed in classic white attire.
There’s no windshield – instead, a singular halo bar structure reminds us of modern F1 cars. At the same time, the flying buttresses are a tribute to the 300 SLR driven by Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson to their win during the 1955 Mille Miglia. The paintjob goes from Le Mans red to graphite grey at the back, and the Mercedes-AMG One hypercar also influenced things here and there.
Overall, it’s a decent attempt at making the halo car (pun intended) a little different. The only question in the real world is whether it will use the regular twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 form of the SL 63 with 577 horsepower or jump on board the electrification bandwagon with the 805-hp E Performance format. However, the imaginative realm of digital car content creators has additional queries to make.
For example, this virtual artist, better known as Theottle on social media, has recently resorted to CGI slicing and dicing the PureSpeed concept to his Coupe GT liking – actively ignoring the 2025 Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance, which is officially the quickest Merc’ ever as it flashes to 60 mph (96 kph) in just 2.7 seconds.
As such, he decided to make a production version of the PureSpeed, which ditches the F1 halo bar in favor of a classic coupe format. That’s a bit counterintuitive because Mercedes-AMG already has both the SL 63 and GT 63 S E Performance taking care of the closed or open-roof high-performance shenanigans. For its Mythos series to work, it definitely needs a hook like that windshield-less styling, right?
Anyway, this is merely wishful thinking, luckily. The Mythos PureSpeed, instead, could hit the right vibes if it keeps the open-top atmosphere intact – and could easily go up against models like the Ferrari Monza SP2, McLaren Elva, or Aston Martin V12 Speedster if the company wants to. What do you think?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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