The groundwork for the arrival of the four-door Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S is being laid by a special edition of the vehicle, the Edition 1. The sub-model moniker ‘Edition 1’ has a nifty ring to it, especially as it echoes the AMG Project 1, a R&D triumph for the company that received much glowing press last year. ‘Project 1’ sounds fundamental, and sleeves-rolled-up serious. The thing is, we’re talking about Mercedes-AMG here. Their marketing may be almost alchemical, but they’ve got the designs to back up the cachet.

And the Edition 1 follows through into three dimensional, showroom reality as sure-footedly. AMG flash is a rarified flash, and the limited-ed grand tourer has it in spades. All-black is awfully déclassé for the highbrow German heavyweights, so the company went with a particularly shadowy shade of gray that’s natural camo for a pre-New Wave film like Le Quai des Brumes. Gray accents touch upon racing tropes and limited-edition desirability, and the contemporary Mercedes lines may be traced to the Art Nouveau school of flowing, nature-invoking designs. The result is a fairly compelling appearance. An edition-specific aero package, cabin design, and badging drive the point home; the canary yellow safety belts add a nice touch of driverly derring-do.

But inside the Edition 1—and the more generic GT 63 S that lurks beneath it—is a 4.0L V8 that’ll pump a spine-tingling 630 HP and 664 pound-feet of torque to the wheels via a 9-speed gearbox. Like the GT63 S, the Edition 1 features drift mode as standard, a big selling point for the kind of driver kicking tires in this class.

Mercedes-AMG isn’t talking U.S. pricing for the Edition 1 at this point. But they are expected to reveal pricing and further details later this year.