Some car brands are impossible to imagine without their signature engines. Imagine BMW with no six-cylinders, or Honda without high-revving fours.
It’s a similar case for Mercedes-AMG, which has long been best known for its thumping V8s, however recent years have seen a downsizing in not only capacity but also the number of eight-cylinder models it offers.
Most notably AMG moved away from V8 power in its C63 sedan, instead moving to a turbocharged four-cylinder plug-in hybrid powertrain. More potent? Absolutely. Soul-stirring? Sales figures suggest otherwise.
While that move has backfired and a handful of other models have dropped cylinders, AMG still keeps V8s around in a number of its flagship products, and it’s rumoured to be bringing the thumping engines back for some more accessible cars too.
Speaking to Auto Express, AMG CEO Michael Schiebe said the brand will continue to offer V8s for as long as possible.
“AMG’s main objective is serving our customers; if there are continuous demands for V8s, then producing them within regulations should be our engineering target,” Schiebe told the publication.
However, with EVs also in the works at AMG, Schiebe admitted the carmaker is having to transfer some of its emotional selling points to the engineless cars.
“[…]sound is becoming more and more important as customers are not just buying cars because they accelerate fast – they are interested in a car that gives them emotions.
“You’ll see we will have different trigger elements in this regard in our future series-production cars.”
Schiebe has previously confirmed AMG is working on a new-generation V8, set to power future models – such as the new CLE – and be compliant with ever-tightening emission standards.
“Since we are just in the development of a new V8, there is not a natural end date that we have defined,” Schiebe said to Motor1 in June.
“We keep on going as long as we see that there is customer demand, and especially, you know, when it comes to the US, for example, we see that there are still customers that just want the V8, a pure V8. And so this is why we are investing in the technology.
“There is, at the moment, a natural ending in Europe. In the US, in the overseas market, where there is no certain end date, I’m pretty confident that we will carry them [for] a couple of years, beginning of the [20]30s, middle of the [20]30s.”
It’s not yet known what the new V8 engine will power, or other technical specifications such as its displacement or turbocharger configuration.
The current AMG V8 found in most of its hot models is a twin-turbo 4.0-litre unit, available with cross- or flat-plane crankshafts, depending on the vehicle.
Despite this, the recently revealed Concept AMG GT XX – a circa-745kW electric vehicle which has set multiple EV distance records – was described by one board member to Schiebe as “the best V8 we have ever developed”.
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