Photo: Guido Ten Brink/SB-Medien
With performance vehicles left and right going hybrid, Mercedes-AMG had the option of adapting, or becoming a dinosaur and slowly but surely sharing their faith.
A few electric motors and a tiny battery can do wonders for a car whose primary purpose is to go as fast as it can. What's more, the fact the necessary components can be stowed away in the lower parts of the vehicle's frame means that the added electric oomph doesn't fiddle with the handling either.
However, it does put on some weight, which is why lighter materials and clever weight management solutions are becoming so important these days. But apart from that tiny technical downside, there's also another one that's more important and more difficult to quantify: the public's perception.
Had AMG come out and said it would build a hybrid vehicle ten years ago, BMW's M division would have had a field day - or even a few field years. Back then the notion of a hybrid powertrain was synonymous with the Toyota Prius, which we all know what it's synonymous with.
Now, though, after the Porsche 918 Spyder and the LaFerrari, to name but a few, not to mention the wonderful Rimac Concept_One electric hypercar or the hypercar-like performances of the Tesla EVs, that idea is a lot easier to digest for the diehard fans of the Affalterbach company.
Which is why Tobias Moers, the Mercedes-AMG CEO, can now say something like this: "Yeah, why not? [have plug-in hybrids across the AMG range] Because we are not able to change the future," Moers said, quoted by Auto News. "We have to adapt to these new requirements and regulations, and we have to move forward and find new innovative solutions."
The first two models to use a mixed propulsion system are the heavily anticipated hypercar (which is supposedly going to borrow tech from a Formula 1 single-seater) and the production version of the four-door GT concept shown at this year's Geneva Show. Both these models are expected sometime next year.
Mr. Moers isn't ruling out the possibility of an all-electric AMG either. Well aware of the fact that a single company can't stand against the tide of the entire market if it decides to go down the electric avenue, he's ready to cross that bridge when he gets there. "I would be wrong to tell you no," he said. "I don't know when down the road. But we are not changing the future. It is going to happen."
It is the death of an era, but isn't that what evolution is all about? Fifty years ago we thought we'd be having flying cars by now, and instead, we're still using the same type of engines in our very well planted vehicles. A drastic change is long overdue, don't you think?
However, it does put on some weight, which is why lighter materials and clever weight management solutions are becoming so important these days. But apart from that tiny technical downside, there's also another one that's more important and more difficult to quantify: the public's perception.
Had AMG come out and said it would build a hybrid vehicle ten years ago, BMW's M division would have had a field day - or even a few field years. Back then the notion of a hybrid powertrain was synonymous with the Toyota Prius, which we all know what it's synonymous with.
Now, though, after the Porsche 918 Spyder and the LaFerrari, to name but a few, not to mention the wonderful Rimac Concept_One electric hypercar or the hypercar-like performances of the Tesla EVs, that idea is a lot easier to digest for the diehard fans of the Affalterbach company.
Which is why Tobias Moers, the Mercedes-AMG CEO, can now say something like this: "Yeah, why not? [have plug-in hybrids across the AMG range] Because we are not able to change the future," Moers said, quoted by Auto News. "We have to adapt to these new requirements and regulations, and we have to move forward and find new innovative solutions."
The first two models to use a mixed propulsion system are the heavily anticipated hypercar (which is supposedly going to borrow tech from a Formula 1 single-seater) and the production version of the four-door GT concept shown at this year's Geneva Show. Both these models are expected sometime next year.
Mr. Moers isn't ruling out the possibility of an all-electric AMG either. Well aware of the fact that a single company can't stand against the tide of the entire market if it decides to go down the electric avenue, he's ready to cross that bridge when he gets there. "I would be wrong to tell you no," he said. "I don't know when down the road. But we are not changing the future. It is going to happen."
It is the death of an era, but isn't that what evolution is all about? Fifty years ago we thought we'd be having flying cars by now, and instead, we're still using the same type of engines in our very well planted vehicles. A drastic change is long overdue, don't you think?
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