In a world that's systematically changing and the fight against carbon emissions is increasing, Mercedes-AMG is still one of the last bastions of the internal combustion engine in one of its most fundamental forms.
The V8 and the sound it can create was and will continue to remain the principal product that makes Affalterbach proud, and that is not going to change very soon.
That said, various measures are being taken to make it more environmentally friendly and sadly, more politically correct. Apart from mild electrification, which mostly improves the character the V8, the Gasoline Particulate Filter (GPF) is one of the last nails in the Internal Combustion Engine's (ICE) coffin.
From the current V8-engined lineup in the Mercedes-AMG stable, only the E 63 has yet to come equipped with a GPF as standard, but that will soon change when the mid-cycle facelift gets revealed.
You can actually hear – or try to – for yourself in the following spy videos, where a bunch of 2021 Mercedes-AMG E 63 prototypes run around the Nurburgring track while sounding like the E 500s of yesteryear instead of the take-no-prisoners, non-politically-correct brutes that they had become known as.
None of the sedans or the station wagon seem to sound particularly AMG-specific, and that is mostly because of the GPF and upcoming EU laws concerning decibel limits.
Thankfully, performance and power (more of it, actually) will still be there thanks to the probable addition of a 48-volt mild-hybrid system. The regular E 63 should come with 589 horsepower while the E 63 S will up the ante to around 630 horsepower. Unfortunately, another addition resulting from the mild-hybrid system will be extra weight.
If the second video you can check out what looks like an Audi RS6 in Mercedes-AMG E 63 clothes, because the prototype is seen understeering like there's no tomorrow on some of Nurburgring's corners, and we refuse to believe that it was all because of the driver. Considering the all-wheel steering system from the Mercedes-AMG GT 4-door is expected to trickle down to the E 63 as well, it could also be safe to assume that it's simply a problem of chassis setup in this particular case.
Alex handled his first real steering wheel at the age of five (on a field) and started practicing "Scandinavian Flicks" at 14 (on non-public gravel roads). Following his time at the University of Journalism, he landed his first real job at the local franchise of Top Gear magazine a few years before Mircea (Panait). Not long after, Alex entered the New Media realm with the autoevolution.com project. Full profile
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