But rear-drive fun isn’t being phased out.
It seems that the nutters in Affalterbach have realised that the amount of power they’re offering in their new cars need a better leash, and so AMG may move its entire lineup to all-wheel drive. That means everything from the A-Classes all the way up to the AMG GT will benefit from four-paw traction, but that won’t spell the end of yobbo-ish fun.
The move to offer all-wheel drive as standard apparently stems from consumer habits. Despite people like us favouring rear-wheel drive, it seems that the majority of buyers (understandably) favour the idea of being able to harness more of the power more often, and opt for all-wheel drive for their high-performance cars.
“Back in the days when we had the AMG E-Class as rear-wheel drive with four-wheel drive as an option, over 90% chose 4WD. In the (new) E63 with drift-mode, you have a real rear-wheel drive car, but with four-wheel drive also [when you’re not in drift-mode].” – Tobias Moers, Chief Executive Officer, Mercedes-AMG
The E63 that Moers was referring to is the current model, with its AMG-tuned 4Matic+ system utilising a clutch-based setup that’s capable of sending up to 100% of available power to either axle. As such, the car can then adopt a rear- or front-exclusive setup should need be, with the former especially being important to driving enthusiasts and occasional yobbos (like yours truly).
And it seems that the calls for standard AMG 4Matic are not limited to buyers of the ‘vanilla’ fleet of passenger cars either, as Moers explained to Autocar.
“When I ask customers about the GT, they ask me about all-wheel drive. Regarding our competition, this is the downside of the AMG in terms of usability. People in Munich, for example, always ask for four-wheel drive. I think it’s for safety & stability.” – Tobias Moers, Chief Executive Officer, Mercedes-AMG
Moers was also pretty forthcoming about the future of their V8, with the AMG boss saying that technical limitations of the current engine design demands that future generations of the motor make use of electric assistance. Additionally, he confirmed that the V12 would not be long for this world, with the S65 Final Edition shown in Geneva truly the final iteration of the breed from AMG.
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