Mercedes-AMG to Add Electricity to Nearly Every Model
With the exception of the 45-series, all AMGs will come with the company’s electric supercharger mild-hybrid system.
When most think of the word “hybrid,” it’s usually attached to something that looks like an angry suppository meant to save the environment and one’s personal pocketbook by sucking the joy out of driving, something commuters don’t need help with as it is.
Thankfully, Mercedes-AMG plans to flip the script on the hybrid in the early 2020s. According to Road & Track, the high-performance subsidiary will have hybrids and (almost) only hybrids in its lineup beginning in 2021.
“At the beginning of 2021, there will be no car launched without an electrified powertrain,” AMG boss Tobias Moers told Road & Track. “We’re heading fast in that direction … I think the share of electrified powertrains is going to be higher in the performance segments than in other segments in 2025. It’s the key to bringing that segment to the future.”
The first hybrids have already appeared, of course, beginning with the AMG 53-series introduced in 2018. Cars like the E53 come with a 3.0-liter turbo-six paired with a 48-volt electric supercharger. The combination mitigates turbo lag while providing big gains in power. The same tech recently was applied onto Mercedes-Benz’s new GLS850, this time with a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 from AMG.
And of course, who can forget AMG’s cutting-edge One hypercar? The 48-volt system is paired with not only a 1.6-liter V6 straight out of Formula One, but a trio of electric motors at the crank and the front wheels. Moers said the electric front axle will likely find its way to other cars, especially those that will soon lose their V12s, like the 65-series. The only model not to receive the hybrid treatment, per Moers, is the 45-series.
The 2020s are going to be an interesting decade for Mercedes-AMG and its hybridization ambitions, and it’s only months away from kicking off in style.
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