Mercedes says it will offer V8 engines as long as the public wants them and as long as the law doesn’t prevent it from doing so
Despite this, Mercedes remains committed to electric vehicles
The company is not working on e-fuels like some of its competitors
Mercedes-Benz has been moving towards electrification quite quickly with a number of new electric vehicles currently being sold or developed.
Despite this, the company has now said it could continue to sell V8 and six-cylinder engines as long as it is possible to do so and as long as its customers want them.
This seems at odds with the company’s sustainability targets since Mercedes had previously announced it wants to offer a completely electric lineup, where market conditions permit.
Apparently, the automaker’s definition of “market conditions” not only includes pollution laws, but also the desires of some customers.
According to the brand’s AMG division, many sports car buyers still want their vehicles to be powered by gasoline engines, especially V8s and six-cylinders.
This could be difficult to do in Europe since the upcoming Euro 7 emissions regulations will make it very difficult for any gasoline engines to be approved for sale in the countries that are part of the European Union. In addition, new vehicles powered by combustion engines will be banned by those same countries starting in 2035.
A possible solution would be to develop synthetic fuels (e-fuels) that don’t generate many polluting emissions when they are burned by an engine.
This is the way chosen by Porsche, which is currently working on cleaner fuels that could be used in any gasoline-powered vehicles without modification.
Mercedes is not following this path, however since it says the pollution generated from the production of e-fuels would prevent it from reaching its carbon neutrality goal set for 2039.
Of course, the automaker says that any future decision on the availability of the V8 engine will be determined by the evolution of emissions regulations around the world as well as the perception of gasoline-powered vehicles by the public.
In order to be prepared if EVs become the preferred choice for buyers of high-performance vehicles, Mercedes-AMG is also working on electric vehicles that will join its lineup in the coming years.
Source: Carsales.com
