Mercedes AMG Boss: The horsepower wars are over

Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG Black Series

Mercedes' performance divisions says it will focus on weight reduction and engine optimization to boost performance

By Alex Ricciuti
January 15, 2009 5:16 PM
Filed Under: German, Mercedes-Benz, Supercars

"The horsepower war is over," declares Volker Mornhinweg, head of Mercedes-Benz's performance division AMG.

AMG says that it will now focus on a lower emissions strategy for all future models. Mornhinweg says the tuner will pursue technologies that create improved performance and economy by reducing curb weight and optimizing engines and transmissions.

As an example, Mornhinweg announced that the new Mercedes E63 AMG, set to make its debut later this year, will be lighter than the previous model and will come with a manual "wet-clutch" gearbox for better fuel economy.

Mornhinweg says that the company is looking to produce a smaller model too. Musing that the tuner was looking to take on the upcoming Mercedes A Class and turn it into an AMG coupe in a performance version of Mercedes-Benz's entry-level model.

AMG, according to Mornhinweg, is also looking at diesels, hybrids and 4-cylinder gasoline engines to introduced into its high-performance Mercedes-Benz variants.

So, AMG is going green and unilaterally invoking a cease-fire on the horsepower wars. Now, someone should tell BMW and Audi.

Source: autocar.co.uk via autoblog.com

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Comments

Bristol411S3

January 15, 2009 5:29 PM

I read this first that there was a new AMG called "The Boss" producing a level of horsepower no one else could beat, hence the war being over (with a clear victor).

Imagine my disappointment...

Seriously, there are much greater things to focus on than sheer horsepower. Performance car drivers now expect much more from less power and with lower weight, bringing the coincidental benefits of lower fuel consumption and smaller emmissions. Add the global financial crisis to the mix and high powered luxo-barges seem increasingly flawed.

adz612

January 15, 2009 5:33 PM

Let's be completely honest here. when it comes to the German horsepower war, Mercedes Benz and Audi are far more ridiculous than BMW. I mean come on, a 580bhp RS6? Who really needs a car like that? At least BMW are making the effort, introducing turbocharging and its efficient dynamics program to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. That's not to say Merc isn't trying with its blue efficiency range. So far I haven't seen Audi budge an inch with regards to its efficiency apart from a few lacklustre attempts in its diesel range. Power is great and all, don't get me wrong, as I'm a speed freak myself, but Mercedes and Audi need to make a greater effort with regards to the horsepower war. So far as I can see, Merc only issued that statement to make themselves look good.

lucifa

January 16, 2009 4:56 AM

if they were willing to take the risk, this is something of a chance for bmw and audi to discredit merc. merc comes out with a 514bhp e-class and says the power war is over, but what if the next-gen M5 were to come out with about 600bhp, as well as being lightweight? all bmw would have to do would be to release a statement that the power wars were in no way over, and that mercedes just didn't have the guts or technology or whatever to keep up. they'd lose a fair bit of their market for not adhering to the green attitude of modern cars, but if they played it right they could absolutely ruin the e63. big gamble, but if they pulled it off it'd be a nice little piece of marketing...

BMWPrince

January 17, 2009 7:11 PM

Completely agree, Audi is putting in little effort to make greener cars. The fact that they just came up with a V10 R8 just proves it... you see, for them it's about sharing parts and to put another engine in th R8, which is already in the VW Group range is not really a huge investment. But to invest in greener and lighter cars requires lots of capital invesment and R&D, which clearly they are reluctant to do.

AMG should have thought about reduction earlier anyway. BMW started way before them.

Zaskar

January 15, 2009 5:50 PM

Sorry, but this is bull****. Of course they'll have to look at hybrids and that kinda stuff (which they're already developing ). And Diesel-AMGs are nothing new. We've had that a couple of years ago already in the old C-Class. A AMG A-Class will not come out, I dont believe that till i see it. Thats just not Mornhingweg's style. And to the new AMG E-Class .. its still and EClass so it will still be damn heavy. And i will take bets from now on: its gonna have more that 514hp ( this is what the E63 has right now). So this whole stuff is just marketing BS. I take my test-ride in the new E350 CDI as an example: 15.6 liters of diesel ( !!!!! ) with a completely new engine. What the hell ?? @adz612 Both, Merc and Audi have the same CO2-reducing stuff that BMW has with the gear-shifting optimiziers and turn-off automatic and all that crap. And btw: who needs a SL with 612 hp ???

joshg_5

January 15, 2009 8:34 PM

It is B.S. you're right.

I'd be disgusted to see a 5.9L V-12 hybrid. in a S65 AMG...

But a A-Class "coupe" AMG would be pretty sick. I'd like to see some photos of that!

Now this is Audi's time to shine. even though they're degrading things such as the S4 to a V6...

But I fully support diesel AMG's, M's, and RS's. Terrific. Just throw in twin-turbos and superchargers everywhere! that's the ultimate solution lol

ShinyG

January 15, 2009 5:52 PM

Nice one by AMG! This is a prelude for them announcing the new diesel AMGs which will probably start the "torque wars"!!! Mercedes can't help having at least one figure above anyone else, even if it's irrelevant in the context of their 2 ton trucks...

AG4

January 15, 2009 6:22 PM

Hmmm.... Will we see a 450hp Hybrid C-class AMG?

Iconic

January 15, 2009 6:30 PM

I hear they're developing a highly tuned steam powered engine.

Joe_Limon

January 15, 2009 6:32 PM

No offence... but lightweight+hybrid=fail You can't make a car lighter weight and a hybrid. Batteries and motors weigh a lot. But hey, looks like this will be the end of inefficient high hp/L cars.

alessandro

January 15, 2009 6:36 PM

Welcome home, Reason! These will be "tuned Mercs".

allroad

January 15, 2009 6:39 PM

"BMW introducing turbocharging"? HUH?? Audi/VW has been doing this for YEARS in most of their cars getting decent fuel economy...sorry but BMW is playing catch up here friend! Um, and the RS6 is a twin turbo! I fail to see your point...

BMWPrince

January 17, 2009 7:15 PM

Sorry, but you missed the point completely. BMW has been able to make naturally aspirated engines that match the HP and efficiency of Audi's tubocharged engines and Merc's turbo/supercharged engines. BMW's entry into tubo again means that BMW engines will now be even more efficient and greater HP than Audi and Merc engines. Why do you think BMW won the top International engine of th year award for the past 7 years with the past 2 years being awarded to a BMW turbo engine??? Neither Audi nor Merc stand close to BMW in engine technology.

marm0lade

January 18, 2009 4:58 PM

"BMW has been able to make naturally aspirated engines that match the HP and efficiency of Audi's tubocharged engines"

No they haven't. When the 1.8t was in its glory days (it was introduced about a decade ago, yea, its been that long) it was competing against BMW's 2.5l inline-6. Clearly the 1.8t was the better engine - 2 less cylinders, same HP, better fuel economy.

As you moved up in the model and engine range, the 1.8t was not a factor as audi and VW relied on the VR6. This is where BMW was ahead, as the 3.0L inline 6 in the M3 is still one of the best engines ever produced.

Today it is the same thing. Audi relies on the 2.0tFSI for their base models - which is a better offering than BMW. Again, similar HP, smaller engine, better fuel efficiency. As you move up the range audi offers a 2.0t with higher output and a 3.2l VR6. Finally though, audi can compete with the M3 as the new S4 uses a supercharged inline 6. Although is has lower HP, it provides only marginally lower performance numbers, but with MUCH better fuel economy.

hitar_potar

January 15, 2009 6:49 PM

and honestly, i fail to see your, dude... rs6 is a twin turbo? sooooooo? the 335 bimmer is a twin turbo as well... oh, you know what, the 335D bimnmer is a turbo, too. what do you know? they're really introducing turbocharging, you know... in their cars.

alessandro

January 15, 2009 6:52 PM

For next: Is Renault's sports division in Matra waiting with Alpine and their RWD things when Ghosn and the other guys of the Renault board will get the point about European/American car market and make some changes in company basic approaches.

switchface

January 15, 2009 6:56 PM

adz612 - Audi not budging an inch? You're kidding right? In addition to FSI technology, Audi is at the forefront of diesel technology. Have you watched Le Mans for the past, I dunno, 8 years? Audi R8's were utterly dominant and they retired the model to move to the diesel R10. Despite penalizing it for being so fuel efficient, it still is undefeated at the 24 hours of Le Mans.

And btw, Audi has already stopped the horsepower wars; the b8 S4 has already ditched the 4.2 V8 for a 3.0 supercharged v6. Better fuel efficiency and more usable power. Good for BMW finally figuring out how to use turbos...Audi has been doing it for years.

lucifa

January 16, 2009 4:50 AM

part of having "the ultimate driving machine" as your company's ideal is putting the driving experience above everything else. this is why bmw has always shunned forced induction, because they prefer a high-revving NA engine to the sudden kick of a turbocharger. it's only now that forced induction has actually become a proper means of the type of performance bmw looks for, that the brand would consider it as a viable option.

adz612

January 17, 2009 12:47 AM

OK you do have a point there with the FSI tech and the diesel Le Mans racers switchface. but in terms of the roadcars, they can use all the clever tech in their engines, but it doesn't make a shred of difference when it comes to weight. I used to work for Audi (salesman) and I've owned a few BMWs so i know a thing or two about em. Maybe I was a bit hasty in saying Audi hasn't budged an inch, they do have some impressive engines, but like I mentioned, the weight of these cars just kill everything. Think about it like this. The RS6 impressive it may be, it's still a big heffalump of a thing, and even with 580 ponies on tap, it's no quicker than an M5. Admittedly the M5 isn't exactly fuel efficient, the RS6 is markedly worse. A trip to London (from South Yorkshire) in the boss' demo damn near murdered my wallet. What all three companies need to be doing, is to find ways to reduce weight in cars. Reduced weight = better performance, better handling, lower emissions, better fuel consumption. Sorry bout the oversight switchface. ;)

_M7_

January 15, 2009 6:56 PM

Mercedes have never been on that war...merecedes have never been able to made an proper super car and less a proper super engine as the BMW P80 whit 680hp from the McLaren F1...14 years ago!!!! so dont talk about power...

jsiucho

January 15, 2009 8:43 PM

So am guessing you never heard of a Zonda F.

alessandro

January 15, 2009 6:58 PM

No more 1000 Nm torque? Who will keep world turning 24 hrs per day?

emo

January 15, 2009 9:41 PM

BMW and turbo`s? The first prodution road car to have turbo the 2002turbo in 1973.The 1983 F1 world champions with road car based engines ( old cylinder blocks that had done at least 100,000 miles )1,400BHP in qualifying out of a 1.5 litre engine. No BMW don`t know about turbo`s, just having to use them to keep the tree huggers happy!

alex_w115

January 16, 2009 2:44 AM

As almost every subject on WCF, comments are again about my p*nis is bigger then yours... I just hope all of them start making lighter (and more affordable) cars. The insurance alone on a 6.3 litre car! Like the M3 E30, or the 190E 2.3-16V, only 2.3 litres and lots of fun.

Schizo0223

January 16, 2009 7:13 AM

Totally agree with alex_w115! I had more fun in my old stripped out and tuned Mk1 GTI than my C32AMG. The AMG was great for high speed cruising and launching off of stop-lights, but the GTI was just fun to tuck corners and rev the sh!t out of it. It's a pitty here in Korea there aren't many older European cars available for a project car like that.

But back the AMG's...I thought that there was a one off A Class AMG that they made with the first generation A-Class. And there was also the C30 AMG with an in-line 5 cylinder diesel in the W203 body style...my friend has one! So it wouldn't be the first time AMG has tinkered with the diesel engine. Diesels make the perfect sense to use as a performance base because most of them are turbo-diesels. Brabus already has tuning kits for Merc diesels that manipulate the ECU to produce decent upgrade in performance. I'm really looking forward to these newer cars that they are talking about building!

But having owned several AMG sedans in the past...I have come to the conclusion that no matter what...it is still a heavy saloon...there are things that the law of physics have against them (center of gravity, weight, drag) that deter them from being what I want in a performance car...

Just save the money and buy a normal saloon for a family car and buy a nice lightweight roadster...even if it doesn't have the hp or straigt-line speed of those monster saloons...I'll be having more fun!

sharpblade

January 17, 2009 1:08 AM

Why so much BMW fans on Mercedes-Benz page of this site? What are you looking for here? If you are absolutely, totally sure that BMW is the better car, or your car is the best car, WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING HERE, why do you bother, why are you interested of MB? You have doubts? Go away, leave us with our not so cornering cars... Buy BMW or GTI or whatever, who cares, just f. off...

adz612

January 17, 2009 6:24 PM

last time I checked it was an open forum.

Zaskar

January 18, 2009 3:17 PM

@schizo0223 There was no A-Class AMG, there was a McLaren Edition in silver/black/red but i think that was it. And like i said upt top already, there has been a 203 AMG-CDI a couple of years ago already, so nothin new. I just hope Audi, as the Turbo-Diesel pioneer, comes out with something comparable soon, like some S-Versions with Diesel.

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