Mercedes AMG May Build Hybrid Supercar To Compete With Porsche 918 Spyder

Once upon a time, you could count upon Mercedes-Benz preferred tuner AMG to push traditional combustion engines to their limits. But we leave in a new day and age where hybrid drivetrains are proving to be even more potent than the nigh-unlimited displacement once afforded by low gas prices.

Motor Trend reports Mercedes AMG is planning to build a new supercar with a hybrid drivetrain that would put it on the same performance plane as the Porsche 918 Spyder. It’s just the latest salvo in the growing conflict I’ve taken to calling the hybrid horsepower wars. These automakers have gone beyond seeing hybrids simply as fuel sippers, and more as a new way to make even more absurd levels of horsepower.

Indeed, it would appear that Mercedes hasn’t been able to find a seat at the high-end of the ultra-performance car market. True, the gullwing-wearing SLS AMG proved popular with buyers, and an electric version even managed to impress Jeremy Clarkson. But Mercedes hasn’t had a ready answer for the top trio of hybrid hypercars, namely the Porsche 918, McLaren P1, and of course the LaFerrari.

Enter AMG, which has refocused its mission to bring Mercedes race car technology to production vehicles, including some of the hybrid systems developed for Formula 1. The in-house tuner has already said it was going to pursue both four-cylinder and hybrid projects, but this is going to be more of a halo car loaded with serious racing technology. If that sounds expensive, well, it’s a freakin’ Mercedes, so you better believe it’ll set you back six, maybe even seven figures…if it’s even built. There’s no time frame, name, or other details to really go on beyond Motor Trend’s piece.

AMG hasn’t shied away from electrification projects in the past, and if they could combine a 700 horsepower twin-turbo V8 with half as much power from a pair of electric motors, you’re looking at a 1,000+ horsepower Mercedes hybrid supercar. It’s about time Mercedes takes up its battle banner and enters the Hybrid Horsepower War with a menacing machine all its own.

Audi: 40% Of Luxury Cars Will Be EVs By 2030

Though electric cars represent less than 1% of all new car sales today, in 15 years the market could look decidedly different, especially among luxury automakers. Audi says that by 2030, 40% of all new luxury cars will be electric vehicles, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

Tesla Motors and the Model S are obvious leaders in the electric car segment now, even taking a bite out of Lexus sales with the fast-selling electric sedan proving popular despite reliability woes. Other automakers, including Audi, are now playing catch up with Tesla, though not all of them are going the pure-electric route. The Audi A3 e-tron is the vanguard of the German brand’s ambitions to add plug-in hybrid and electric versions of every model in its lineup, with a stretched Audi A6 e-tron following up in China. A pure electric Audi Q8 e-tron is said to take aim at the upcoming Tesla Model X as well.

Meanwhile the Mercedes S 500 Hybrid has launched with an exorbitant price tag, but performance nearly as impressive as its fuel economy. The Porsche Panamera E-Hybrid is equally impressive and even more expensive if you can believe it, and some of the most expensive cars in the world (LaFerrari, lookin’ at you) are hybrid vehicles.

In other words, automakers have woken up to the fact that buyers will pay a premium for a well-built electric or hybrid car, and the next 15 or so years should see the market flooded by them. Audi’s prediction of 40% of luxury cars being somewhat electrified may seem optimistic, but if anything it sounds conservative to me. Europe, the U.S., and China are all imposing stricter emissions standards, and most automakers seem to think combustion engine efficiency isn’t worth the diminishing gains. Then again, there will always be those buyers willing to pay a hefty premium to have their V8-powered muscle cars and opulent SUVs, so the market for combustion engines isn’t going to just disappear.

By 2030, do you think most luxury cars will be hybrid or electric vehicles? Or will increasing wealth inequality isolate those who can afford six-digit cars from the impending emissions mandates?

Source:  Gas 2

2016 Bugatti Veyron Could Be A Hybrid

No car better represents automotive excess than the Bugatti Veyron (not shown, above – that’s the prototype ID90), with its 8.0 liter V16 quad-turbocharged engine belting out as much as 987 horsepower and dashing from 0 to 60 MPH in just 2.6 seconds. It can suck down all 26 gallons of fuel in just 12 minutes at top speed, topping out somewhere north of 260 MPH. But Reuters reports that the successor to the Bugatti Veyron could go in a different direction; hybrid.

That isn’t to say the V16 engine is dead. More likely, the 1,000 horsepower mill will be aided by a 500 horsepower hybrid system, which could bring total output into the 1,500 horsepower neighborhood. That means the 2016 Bugatti hybrid could pack as much as 50% more power than the outgoing Veyron, which is expected to meet its 450 unit limit in the next year or so. Beyond those few details though, don’t expect a new Bugatti hypercar for a while yet, as the German-owned French automaker still seems undecided on their new direction.

Hybrid is a great choice for the 2016 Bugatti (2017?, 2018?), no doubt, as there are a growing number of hybrid hypercars such as the 963 horsepower LaFerrari and 887 horsepower Porsche 918 Spyder edging in on Bugatti’s dominance. If Bugatti really wanted to blow some minds though, it would be a no-expense-spared all-electric hypercar with at least 200 miles of driving range and mind-blowing levels of torque. With Tesla opening its Supercharger patents to other automakers, Bugatti could just plug it into an existing charging network. Then again, that might be too drastic of a change for would-be buyers who are expecting an earth-shattering roar every time they stomp the pedal.

Somebody is going to do it eventually though, and if Bugatti wants to stay on top, they might have to do something drastic.

Ferrari Will Build More Hybrids, But They’ll Never Run On Just Electricity

While some sports car companies like Porsche have embraced hybrid technology with open arms, others have only just started to toy with mating combustion and electric drivetrains. While the new LaFerrari hybrid is a good first step, some have wondered how far Ferrari will take their hybrid tech. Apparently the supercar maker is very into hybrids, just not the kind you plug in.

Ferrari boss Luca di Montezelmolo told Bloomberg News that while Ferrari “stongly believes in hybrids”, the company doesn’t intend to ever build a car that will run silently on just electricity.  Montezelmolo doesn’t “believe” in electric cars the same way he believes in hybrids. Why? Because part of the Ferrari mystique is that impossible-to-replicate engine sound, and you just don’t get that with EVs…just instant torque and increidble acceleration.

Instead of pursuing pure electric cars, the Italian automaker will use hybrid technology to boost performance and lower emission. But you can forget about a fully-electric Ferrari, or even a plug-in hybrid model, at least for now.

The thing about technology is that it’s always moving forward, and eventually Ferrari may be forced to build an electric supercar just to stay competitive. With wealthy buyers flocking to Tesla’s all-electric Model S, and competitors like Porsche rolling out creative and powerful plug-in hybrid supercars, Ferrari may come to regret that decision. Shades of the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans, anyone?

Source: Bloomberg News