Mercedes spends millions of pounds on R&D of their mighty engines and now the AMG GT is going to be the first recipient of this new 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 power plant.

There is absolutely no doubt about the power of Mercedes engines and when they are made by AMG, it’s like a wild beast wanting to be unleashed. Recently, it has been officially confirmed by the Mercedes-Benz that their upcoming Mercedes-AMG GT will be the first vehicle to get its newly built 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine.

It has been given that this new engine is capable of 503 hp and 479 lb-ft of torque, replacing its naturally-aspirated 6.2-litre V8 predecessor. The old motor is phasing out along with the SLS AMG. Internally, this new engine is known as M178 and has the 90-degree quad-cam direct-injection while its predecessor is known as M159.

Mercedes claims that its new engine is featuring a wide range of cutting-edge technologies such as the flow-optimisation cylinder heads, nano-slide coating for the cylinder walls, forged internals and dry sump lubrication. Between the 90-degree angled cylinder banks, sits a pair of Borg Warner turbos while M178 has the same configuration as of 2.0-litre AMG engine.

The M178 will power the new GT and cranks out 126.3 hp per litre, which is 35.6 hp per litre more than the M159 used in SLS AMG. The new engine has volume of 3982cc which is 2226cc less than the M159, therefore the 503 hp it develops is 65 hp lesser than the engine it is about to replace. The torque on the other hand stays the same in both engines, with 479 lb-ft.