Mercedes-Benz V12s will survive
V12 lovers rejoice for it appears that the Mercedes-Benz V12 – used in the S-Class, CL and SL models – will live on in future incarnations thanks to you, the fans. The German automaker seems to think or know that its V12 engines have enough of a loyal fanbase of buyers who will only buy cars with twelve cylinders, so they’re not planning on discontinuing them despite the overall market trends towards smaller turbo-charged engines.
Mercedes-Benz is preparing some heavily upgraded versions of the already existing 5.5- and 6.0-litre V12 engine to use in the new-generation S-Class, as well as the next S-Class Coupe and the revised SL. This move goes directly against the trend of downsizing engine capacities and adding a turbocharger to increase efficiency.
According to Mercedes-Benz officials, the S65 and S600 buyers are the reason that the V12s continue because there are just enough buyers per year who will purchase V12s exclusively that it is worth maintaining the engine model alive.
The current S600 uses a 5.5-litre V12 with 380kW of power and 830Nm of torque, while the S65 AMG 6.0-litre gets 463kW and 1000Nm, both of which eating up more than 14L/100km combined. Despite the fact that the S600 is very thirsty, Mercedes-Benz has spent quite a bit of money making it Euro 6 compliant.
The 6.0-litre V12 became Euro 6 compliant when the SL65 AMG launched, which also added the seven-speed auto thus lowering the consumption to 11.7L/100km, considerably lower than the combined figure of the current S65 AMG>
Even though the V12 will continue to exist this does not mean that they will maintain their current stats, they would be weeded out of the market within a few years because of increasingly tighter fuel efficiency standards.
Instead the next-generation S600 and S65 AMG will be getting a plethora of upgrades meant to allow the V12 to exist into the future. They will get stop-start technology, a seven-speed automatic gearbox as well as lower kerb weights to further decrease consumption in order to meet tightening emissions regulations.
