Mercedes Commits to Maintaining the V8 and V12 Engines Alive : Automotive Addicts

Automotive

For automobile lovers who feared the top of Mercedes-Benz’s legendary V8 and V12 engines, right here’s a motive to have fun: they’re staying. Regardless of the business’s relentless push towards electrification, Mercedes is proving that high-performance combustion engines nonetheless have a spot sooner or later. In an period the place many automakers are phasing out their bigger engines in favor of downsized hybrids and EVs, the German luxurious model is doubling down on what makes its flagship fashions particular.

At its latest annual outcomes convention, Mercedes laid out a roadmap targeted on effectivity and transformation, however fortunately, that doesn’t imply abandoning inside combustion. The V12-powered Maybach S680 and S-Class Guard will proceed in “chosen markets,” the place emissions rules enable, making Mercedes the final German automaker nonetheless providing a twelve-cylinder engine. BMW bid farewell to its V12 in 2022, and Audi’s W12 disappeared even earlier, in 2017.

However maybe even greater information is AMG’s dedication to the V8. The efficiency division is growing a next-generation, high-tech, electrified V8 that may meet stringent Euro 7 emissions rules. This implies future AMG fashions, driving on the upcoming AMG.EA platform, will retain the unmistakable character and energy of a V8 whereas incorporating electrification for added effectivity and efficiency. It’s a transparent signal that Mercedes isn’t simply holding onto its heritage—it’s evolving it.

Whereas Mercedes remains to be pushing towards electrification, the numbers inform a unique story than its earlier ambitions. The corporate now tasks that by 2027, plug-in hybrids and EVs will make up solely 30% of complete gross sales, with the remaining 70% being inside combustion automobiles, a lot of which is able to make the most of 48V mild-hybrid know-how. This shift in expectations acknowledges a actuality many lovers have been saying for years: the world isn’t able to abandon ICE (inside combustion engine) automobiles simply but.

In a world the place producers are more and more taking part in it protected with turbocharged four-cylinders and electrical powertrains, Mercedes’ choice to spend money on the V8 and V12 is a breath of recent air. These engines aren’t nearly energy—they characterize an emotional connection to driving, the unmistakable sound and really feel that makes a Mercedes-AMG or Maybach really particular.

So right here’s to Mercedes for protecting the eagerness alive. The automotive panorama could also be altering, however so long as V8s and V12s are nonetheless roaring, there’s nonetheless hope for efficiency purists in all places.