Next Mercedes-AMG S 63 to be a 600kW PHEV?

Monday, 10 August 2020

The king of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class range has been linked with a plug-in hybrid powertrain making around 600kW.

According to Mercedes-Benz Passion Blog, AMG will use its 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 paired with an electric motor to generate around 600kW for the sportiest S, said to be named ‘Mercedes-AMG S 63 EQ Performance 4Matic+’. Rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?

The V8-plus-electricity combo will also find its way into the so-called GT 73e in the next few months to directly battle the Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid.

The first teasers of the new S-CLass look like... An S-Class.

Interestingly, the German story above reckons Mercedes won’t offer a conventionally powered S 63. That means the hybrid S 63 will be the most powerful S-Class on the market, given the V12-powered S 65 has been axed. That engine is reserved for the Maybach.

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And in a spot of bad news for fans of convertibles and coupes, the S-Class sedan will be the only body style available. That’s range-wide, including AMG variants. Mercedes will apparently replace these with new versions of the GT Coupe and SL.

None of this is official just yet, mind, so take it with a grain of salt.

Officially, Mercedes has confirmed that the S-Class will herald a bunch of new technologies like a massive central touchscreen and a new version of MBUX, a head-up display with augmented reality and rear-wheel steering.

A new version of the MRA platform will underpin the S-Class, elongated the luxury limo by 71mm (for a wheelbase of 3106mm) in standard trim while the long wheelbase version adds another 51mm for a total wheelbase of 3157mm.

Thanks to nearly 60 per cent of the chassis being made from aluminium, the W223 S-Class will be “considerably lighter,” so says S-Class chief engineer Jürgen Weissinger in a recent interview with Autocar UK.

We’ll get all the information about the S-Class in early September, while AMG’s take will debut at the start of next year.