There are certain movie characters that never really leave the internet and reemerge as Halloween costumes every year. For a generation raised on Tumblr moodboards and grainy street racing edits, Devon Aoki’s Suki in 2 Fast 2 Furious is one of them. Twenty years later, her pink car and crop top with pink jeans still make regular appearances in TikTok edits and Pinterest moodboards, embodying the thrill of high-speed racing. At the end of last month in Los Angeles, Mercedes-AMG gave 600 guests the chance to step into their own version of the iconic car.

For the world premiere of the new Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupé, the brand shut down LA’s 6th Street Bridge and turned it into a fantasy Autobahn. A full-scale spectacle complete with giant LED screens, German road signs and a strip of one-of-a-kind Mercedes-Benz cars, the event continued the brand’s streak of global premieres with guests across motorsport, fashion, film and music.

Here is what went down.

THE AUTOBAHN TRAVELLED FROM GERMANY TO LA

The Autobahn is one of those random topics that has become a cultural phenomenon. While for Germans, it’s simply part of the road network, from the outside looking in, it’s become a symbol of unrestricted speed and freedom. It’s one of the few places in the world where cars are allowed to truly prove their capacity, so it was only right that German brand Mercedes-AMG built the launch of one of its fastest cars around it. Taking place in Downtown Los Angeles, the one-night-only Autobahn was held on the 6th Street Bridge, one of the city’s most recognisable filming locations.

THE CAR EXCEEDED THE NEED FOR SPEED

Of course, none of this works if the car doesn’t back it up. Debuting on the night, the brand new Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupé is the latest chapter in AMG’s move into the electric era. The technical details are pretty complicated, but for those who may not grasp what three axial flux motors and cooled battery cells mean, the simplest way to understand what this car represents came during the reveal with George Russell. As one of the fastest active qualifiers, with six Formula One Grands Prix wins under his belt, Russell brought speed into focus with a show-stopping demonstration of the car’s advanced capabilities.

THE MERCEDES-AMG F1 FAMILY WERE IN ATTENDANCE 

Russell wasn’t the only familiar face from the paddock. Mercedes-AMG’s growing relationship to Formula One was all over the evening, with Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli also in attendance, and even giving some guests a test drive in the new car. Antonelli, still only 19, has quickly become one of the most talked-about names in motorsport, currently sitting at number one in the F1 league. 

GUESTS GOT A CRASH COURSE IN MOTORSPORT

Similar to past Mercedes-Benz events, the guest list stretched well beyond motorsport, including Jacob Elordi, Brad Pitt, Finneas, Kourtney Kardashian and more. But all of the guests, whether from the worlds of fashion, entertainment or sport, received the same lesson on performance engineering. Even if you arrived knowing very little about how electric performance cars actually work, you left with a better understanding of what separates something like the GT from a standard electric vehicle. TLDR: a GT goes a lot faster, for a lot longer. 

Throughout the initial presentation, Mercedes repeatedly pointed back to the development work behind the car, including the record-setting CONCEPT AMG GT XX programme at Nardò in 2025. Attendees were given a full breakdown of the car’s journey from start to finish. 

A SURPRISE PERFORMANCE FROM BLINK 182

Over the years, Mercedes has developed a habit of treating global launches like full-scale entertainment productions. Last year, Tyla lit up the sky in Rome, and in 2024, the last time the brand staged a major premiere in Los Angeles, Travis Scott performed on top of a G-Class floating in a lake. This time around, Blink-182 brought the crowd back to their teenage years, performing a surprise set in front of the GT 4-Door Coupé as the sky turned orange behind them.

Head to the gallery above to check out images from the launch.