2017 Mercedes AMG E63: “It’s going to be all-wheel drive only”

It looks as though Mercedes is slowly going the way of its all-wheel drive rival, Audi.

The W212 AMG E63 was a significant model for Mercedes. For the first time, buyers were given the choice of where the power, derived from the glorious twin-turbo V8, would be sent.

Given the choice, more than 90% of German buyers chose to have power sent to all four wheels- and why wouldn’t you. Germany’s harsh weather conditions make a high powered rear-wheel drive car seem almost redundant during the coldest and wettest months of the year.

Given the overwhelming preference towards all weather drivability, it should come as no surprise that the next generation AMG E63 will be offered solely in all-wheel-drive. Tobias Moers, head of AMG, recently spoke to Top Gear and confirmed that there will be no RWD option in the next generation E63: “It’s going to be four-wheel-drive. Only.”

The new E63 will ditch the current 5.5L twin-turbo V8 in favour of the more efficient and potent 4.0L twin-turbo V8 that features in the C63 S- AMG are yet to confirm power figures for the new engine. A dealer brochure posted to GermanCar4um earlier this year suggested that the base E63 will dispense 420kW/750Nm and sprint to 100km/h in 3.7sec, with the more powerful E63 S making 450kW/850Nm that will cut the 0-100km/h sprint to 3.5sec- faster than the beastly Audi RS6.

With the exception of the A45 AMG hatchback, the W213 E63 is the first AMG to be offered exclusively in all-wheel-drive. Mercedes is set to unveil the new E63 AMG later this year. The official release date hasn’t been announced, however whispers suggest that it could be at the Paris Motorshow in October.