Photo: Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-AMG will build electric vehicles and hybrids in the future, and the company has openly admitted this.
It does not come as a surprise to anyone who follows the automotive industry that electrified vehicles will be the rule in a few years, and cars that just have an internal combustion engine will be rare for most manufacturers.
Evidently, when we are talking about “a few years,” we are referring to more than a decade, when emissions regulations will become significantly stricter on a fleet level than they are today.
Automakers will have to choose between investing heavily in the development of the internal combustion engine to attempt to reach its maximum theoretical efficiency, and the introduction of electrified models in their portfolios. As you have probably observed, both directions are being pursued, but a moment will come when car makers will have to choose a single destination, and electric vehicles might win that battle.
Mercedes-Benz briefly offered a version of its SLS AMG supercar with an electric drivetrain. It was sold in limited numbers, but it existed in production, and it could have been bought by anyone wealthy enough to afford a car that expensive. Meanwhile, the SLS AMG got replaced, and the Mercedes-AMG GT came along.
Several years after the launch of the GT, Mercedes-AMG has yet to follow up on the electric part, but do not mistake the apparent lack of action for quitting. Instead, the GT might get electrified later in its production life. Most likely, Mercedes-AMG will offer such a version as this model will begin to wait for its replacement.
We already know that the Mercedes-AMG GT will stay in production until about 2020, so the electric model could be launched as early as 2018. The year 2019 should bring the first units in the Mercedes-AMG portfolio, if they get green-lighted for production. Till then, we just have to wait and see what the company’s management decides on the matter.
Evidently, when we are talking about “a few years,” we are referring to more than a decade, when emissions regulations will become significantly stricter on a fleet level than they are today.
Automakers will have to choose between investing heavily in the development of the internal combustion engine to attempt to reach its maximum theoretical efficiency, and the introduction of electrified models in their portfolios. As you have probably observed, both directions are being pursued, but a moment will come when car makers will have to choose a single destination, and electric vehicles might win that battle.
Mercedes-Benz briefly offered a version of its SLS AMG supercar with an electric drivetrain. It was sold in limited numbers, but it existed in production, and it could have been bought by anyone wealthy enough to afford a car that expensive. Meanwhile, the SLS AMG got replaced, and the Mercedes-AMG GT came along.
Several years after the launch of the GT, Mercedes-AMG has yet to follow up on the electric part, but do not mistake the apparent lack of action for quitting. Instead, the GT might get electrified later in its production life. Most likely, Mercedes-AMG will offer such a version as this model will begin to wait for its replacement.
We already know that the Mercedes-AMG GT will stay in production until about 2020, so the electric model could be launched as early as 2018. The year 2019 should bring the first units in the Mercedes-AMG portfolio, if they get green-lighted for production. Till then, we just have to wait and see what the company’s management decides on the matter.
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