A Daimler board member has confirmed that Mercedes-Benz has no plans to phase out its V12, explaining that the hefty engine will remain as long as there is still a demand for it.
“The V12 is around for the foreseeable future. I don’t see that going away quickly,” Ola Kallenius, head of research and development at Mercedes-Benz Cars and member of the board of management at Daimler, told The Drive.
Kallenius explained that certain customers were not interested in the AMG performance sub-brand’s 4,0-litre V8 and that, for them, nothing less than a 12-cylinder engine would do.
“It is a small clientele of connoisseurs that love V12s. In some markets for some customers, that V12 is still the ultimate, and that’s what they want. So we will cater to that clientele with a very capable V12 for the foreseeable future,” Kallenius said.
And what about the increasingly stringent emissions regulations being applied in certain key markets?
“Whatever the regulation is, we will meet the regulation. How long that segment has legs, I don’t know, but we have no plans to give up on it,” he added.
