The next-generation Mercedes-AMG C63 – which will make the landmark switch from V8 to four-cylinder hybrid power – will be officially unwrapped on Wednesday afternoon.
This car has now been revealed. Click the link to read our story: New Mercedes-AMG C63 swaps V8 for 670bhp PHEV system
Following a reveal in concept form at Goodwood's Festival of Speed in June, the upcoming BMW M3 rival is emphatically marked out from the standard Mercedes C-Class by way of an aggressive body kit, chunky AMG sports alloy wheels (covering the requisite drilled and ventilated brake discs) and a beefy quad-exit exhaust.
The C63 will be the first AMG model to feature an advanced four-cylinder hybrid drivetrain instead of its long-standing V8 powerplant when it goes on sale later this year. The car will be one in a line of future new AMG models earmarked to receive an electrified version of Mercedes’ new turbocharged 2.0-litre M139 engine.
The potent four-cylinder engine kicks out a maximum of 416bhp and 369lb ft of torque in non-electrified form in the new Mercedes-AMG A 45 and its related siblings. The unit has already been engineered for longitudinal mounting as well as mild-hybrid electric boosting.
Mercedes has confirmed that the petrol unit has been tuned to give 470bhp in its own right for the new C63 - making it comfortably the most powerful four-cylinder engine in series production. It will then be paired with a 201bhp EV motor on the rear axle – a set-up Mercedes refers to as the 'P3' drivetrain – to give a total figure of 670bhp, some 167bhp more than the BMW M3, its closest rival.
This is despite a 50% reduction in swept capacity and cylinder count. With the benefit of electric boosting, it has also been conceived to deliver up to 553lb ft of torque – a 37lb ft increase on today’s C63 S 4Matic.
Autocar has been told the M139 engine will adopt a 48V integrated starter motor similar to that already used by the turbocharged 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder M256 unit, which powers the CLS 53 4Matic+ and other recent new AMG models.
In the CLS 53 4Matic+, the gearbox-mounted starter motor provides an additional 22bhp and 184lb ft of electric boosting. In the next C63, however, it is set to be tuned to provide significantly more power in combination with a similar torque loading.
The new EQ Boost hybrid drivetrain is also planned to run in combination with Mercedes’ nine-speed torque-converter MCT Speedshift gearbox.
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Never has such a fast car left in so cold. For fast tax-dodgers only
Can Lotus somehow shoe horn this drivetrain into the Emira? In the likely event that the batteries won't fit, I hope they can access the high tune version of this motor... an Emira with 450-470bhp truly would be a discount supercar.
I suspect it wouldn't work too well minus the hybrid bits that can fill the torque gaps and keep the turbo spinning.
Perhaps you should have done too Autocar?