Mercedes Gives Its F1 Car a MANUFAKTUR Livery for Austin — and Takes Over the City
The W17, both drivers' race suits, and their AMG GT 4-Door Coupés get MANUFAKTUR colors in Austin, a market where half of Mercedes' US sales carry the option.
Mercedes-AMG will run its W17 in a dedicated MANUFAKTUR livery at this weekend's United States Grand Prix, turning a championship-leading Formula 1 car into a showcase for the company's personalization program. The timing isn't random: Mercedes says half of the vehicles it sells in America carry MANUFAKTUR options.
That makes the US the program's most important market, according to the automaker. Earlier this year, Mercedes opened its first American MANUFAKTUR Made to Measure Hub at Mercedes-Benz Studio Los Angeles, only the second such site in the world after the Center of Excellence in Sindelfingen, Germany. The same bespoke service was behind the LeBron James Maybach S 680 headed to auction.
What changes on the car and the drivers
The Austin activation covers the W17 E PERFORMANCE race car, the team's garage, and the drivers themselves, running from October 23 to 25 at Circuit of The Americas. Mercedes hasn't published a full breakdown of the livery, but the official images show a dark blue scheme carrying a MANUFAKTUR signature script.
Each driver picked a MANUFAKTUR paint shade for his race suit: steel blue for Kimi Antonelli and China Blue for George Russell. The colors carry over to the road, where each gets an individually specified Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupé matching his suit for trips to and from the track.
That car is new. The second-generation GT 4-Door Coupé went electric when it was revealed in May, as the launch model for Mercedes-AMG's AMG.EA performance platform. The GT 63 is rated at 1,169 hp (860 kW), while the GT 55 makes 816 hp (600 kW), with series production slated to start in Sindelfingen in summer 2026. Mercedes didn't announce pricing at the reveal.
A billboard leading the championship
Mercedes picked a strong weekend for the stunt. After 17 rounds, Antonelli leads the drivers' standings on 340 points with eight wins, 102 points clear of teammate Russell, and Mercedes tops the constructors' table with 578 points to Ferrari's 444, according to the standings after Singapore. Further down the order, Audi's F1 team arrives in Austin for the first time chasing seventh place.
Taking it downtown
Off the track, the team's Paddock Club suite will display MANUFAKTUR colors, materials, and bespoke details. A downtown Fan Hub will show the GT 4-Door Coupé in several MANUFAKTUR finishes, alongside live demonstrations of how cars are personalized.
The brand is also dressing up local businesses. On South Congress, Joe's Coffee and Amy's Ice Cream get MANUFAKTUR makeovers with Mercedes-AMG cars on display, and Amy's will serve special flavors in branded cups. Western-wear retailer Tecovas will let visitors personalize a hat, while the W Austin and an adidas activation at SCHEELS add more vehicle displays. Mercedes isn't the only automaker using the race as a marketing stage: Ford's Raptor Rally ends at the same event.
What Mercedes hasn't said is whether the livery will return after Austin, or how exactly the drivers' cars are specified beyond their paint. The bigger takeaway is commercial: with personalization already on every second car it sells in the US, MANUFAKTUR is now a core part of the business behind Mercedes-Benz USA's third-quarter sales, not just a catalog of extras.
