V12 engine on the way out, says Mercedes-AMG

By RELAXNEWS | 10 April 2018

The V12 mill in the Mercedes-AMG S 65.

STUTTGART: Although they only power a relatively small number of Mercedes-AMG models these days, V12 engines are something the performance arm of the German automotive giant is somewhat synonymous with.

However, that's not going to be the case for too much longer as the company's boss Tobias Moers has told the Autoblog website he doesn't feel they're necessary for AMG's products, especially vehicles totally unique to the brand such as the AMG GT.

Some people will inevitably bemoan the demise of the V12, but it's actually hard to argue against consigning it to history as something like the twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 in the AMG GT 63 S produces more horsepower than the 6.0-litre V-12 twin-turbo in the S65 AMG.

Inbegriff des Automobils: Die Mercedes-Benz S-Klasse

Ok, the V-12 does produce a lot more torque, but that's counteracted to some degree by the adverse effect the weight of the extra four cylinders has on handling. And as the V-8 is used extensively throughout the rest of the Mercedes vehicle range it's more affordable to modify and develop for different applications.

Moers also gave an interesting insight into the company's decision to produce the AMG four-door. It seems a large part of the reasoning behind producing the more practical GT was because the brand was losing customers to rivals. Moers said existing E and C-Class AMG owners were increasingly in the market for more exclusive and higher performance models that were also still relatively practical. Until AMG launched the GT it didn't have a car to satisfy these customers, but now it does of course.

Another interesting fact is the reason why the AMG GT four-door can be had with even more power than the incredible GT R coupe, which most would probably expect to have been the more powerful of the two cars. It turns out it's mainly because the four-door GT is heavier and has all-wheel drive, so AMG saw the weight as a good argument for the additional power, and then there was the fact the all-wheel drive system meant the car would be more than capable of handling it.