Future AMGs from Mercedes will use hybrid technology to improve fuel consumption and not to act as a performance boost, Autocar has learned.
Next-generation models from Mercedes’ high performance wing will gain hybrid technology including stop-start and energy recuperation devices.
Read Autocar's review of the Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG
AMG’s former CEO Volker Mornhinweg said in 2008 that it was experimenting with batteries, ultracapacitors and flywheels for its future hybrids with the possibility of boosting power but instead the firm is focusing on improving fuel economy and lowering CO2 emissions of its flagship performance models.
Daimler’s head of future mobility and advanced engineering, Herbert Kohler, told Autocar it was “a given” that future AMGs would be offered with hybrid technology.
“In the future AMG will still offer high performance models but there will be hybrids there,” he said. “AMG needs to reduce fuel consumption.”
VW Group hybrids will be among the first to focus on adding more power, including the innovative flywheel system used on the Porsche 918, but Kohler said this was not a path Mercedes would be following. “Hybrids can boost, but AMGs will use stop-start and recuperation technology.”
Mercedes’ luxury brand Maybach, which faces an uncertain future, could live on as a flagship for focusing Mercedes’ advanced future drivetrain technology. But Kohler said this was not on the cards. “Never say never,” he said, “but this is not something we’ve planned or even discussed.”
Chevrolet Volt-style range-extenders are another type of vehicle Mercedes is developing and Kohler said it would have the technology testing “on the road very soon”. There are no plans for an advanced BMW Megacity-style electric car showcase, however, with the firm instead focused on development of its high-performance SLS E-cell.
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