AUTONEWS

AMG Mercedes led the exchange of large engines for small and electrified ones. And the customers didn't like it

Michael Schiebe, head of AMG, Mercedes' sports car division, admitted that some of his customers are not very happy with the current course of evolution of the company's mechanics. Mercedes-AMGs “sell” emotions and fun behind the wheel, but for these sensations to be guaranteed, many drivers consider that the engine roar and vibrations associated with a combustion engine with a greater number of cylinders are essential.

The need to comply with the maximum carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions limit that the European Union has imposed from 2020 (95g of CO2 determined by the NEDC method, which corresponds to 116g according to the new and stricter WLTP) , led car manufacturers that offer powerful versions of certain models to replace old engines, with many cylinders and high capacity — therefore more powerful, but more expensive —, with power units with smaller displacement and number of cylinders, to contain consumption and emissions. , mainly thanks to the use of an electric motor that works as a complement.

In an interview with British publication Car Magazine, Schiebe confessed that AMG lost some of its customers when they removed the 4.0 V8 biturbo from the AMG C63 and replaced it with a 2.0 supercharged unit with half the cylinders, similar to the one Mercedes installs in the small AMG A45 , but with the help of a 204 hp electric motor, powered by a 6.1 kWh battery (4.8 useful).

In theory, AMG had every reason to be confident in the evolution it underwent on the C63, which, until 2021, featured a noble V8 engine. This unit, which delivered 510 hp and 700 Nm of torque in the 63 S version, was replaced by a four-cylinder associated with an electric motor, a set that now delivers 680 hp and 1020 Nm, at least while the accumulator has energy. Hence the new C63 S E Performance plug-in hybrid announces a top speed of 280 km/h, compared to 290 km/h for the previous C63 S V8, a loss that the PHEV compensates for by being faster from 0-100 km/h (3.4 against 4.0 seconds for the gasoline version).

The apparent problem — at least for many potential customers — is that the current sports sedan, the C63 S E Performance, has a claimed curb weight of 4,700 pounds, 23.4 percent more than the 3,700 pounds of the previous generation with V8, which limits behavior. At the same time, and this may be where the biggest difficulty lies, according to Schiebe, the V8's guttural roar has disappeared and the PHEV mechanics do not offer the same level of melody when accelerating, which displeases drivers. But the reality is that the C63 S emitted 244g CO2/km, a figure that dropped to 167g in the current C63 S E Performance, which is still capable of running 12 km in electric mode. However, despite multiple requests for the V8 to return, Mercedes will not introduce it again in the C63 until at least 2026.

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