“I will not say more, but it’s coming,” Mercedes-Benz CEO Thomas Schäfer told Autocar. Mercedes-Benz confirmed it will keep its big V12 engine in production “into the 2030s” today at the IAA Mobility show in Munich.
Benz’s Biggest Motor Survives Past Euro 7
Mercedes-Benz
It appears Mercedes has found a way around looming Euro 7 emissions regulations, which would have ordinarily limited the options Mercedes and other European automaekrs had for gasoline powertrains pretty severely. The CEO didn’t say how the V12 would survive, simply that it would.
Of course, one possibility is that V12-powered Benz models simply won’t be sold in some countries, say, ones under Euro 7 emissions regulations. Moreover, Schäfer also reminded media that the automaker still has to comply with the EU’s combustion engine ban in 2035. Of course, not everywhere has such regulations, he points out: “But there are other markets at the moment [where] I don’t expect them to have such a regulation in place [such as the Middle East and China].” Of course, the US also comes to mind as the Trump Administration has worked to effectively deregulate large portions of the Environmental Protection Agency’s previous carbon emissions guidelines.
Could Mercedes Go Hybrid With Its V12?
Lamborghini
Another alternative is hybridization. Mercedes-Benz could follow Lamborghini’s path, opting to heavily hybridize its biggest gasoline engines to help them meet more stringent climate regulations. A few weeks ago, Lamborghini product line director Matteo Ortenzi said that hybrid systems have helped the brand do so – and they could for Mercedes too. “This allows us to comply with the legislation, especially in CO2 and emissions, which would be difficult to comply with if we did not have this kind of technology,” said Ortenzi.
Unlike Mercedes, Lambo needs to make its engines globally compliant due to its limited size and resources. Mercedes has the luxury of picking and choosing which variations of which powertrains can apply to certain markets. Likely, this is the more cost-effective solution for the automaker, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see market-specific powertrains pop up as various countries enter the different stages of a combustion engine ban.
