We’ve been seeing spy shots of the upcoming Mercedes-AMG C63 E Performance for quite some time now, but as it turns out, the car actually made its debut in the metal at last week’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Granted, the car is still camouflaged in the same print Mercedes used for the AMG GT 63 S E Performance, but it’s much more revealing than the any of the wraps we’ve seen on the prototypes so far. That being said, what’s visible is just about exactly what we expected: larger intakes, a wider body, multispoke wheels framing bigger brakes, rectangular quad exhaust tips, and more aggressive bumper designs.
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The biggest news with this car, though, the news that enthusiasts everywhere have been dreading, is that it will ditch the V8 in favor of a hybridized turbo four-cylinder. The silver lining is that as confirmed by the sign next to the car, it will make a whopping 671 hp (680 PS / 500 kW) and 553 lb-ft (750 Nm) of torque, which is 168 hp (170 PS / 125 kW) and 37 lb-ft (50 Nm) more than the outgoing C63 S‘s 4.0-liter biturbo V8.
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470 hp (476 PS / 350 kW) of that power comes from the engine, a modified version of the M139 turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four found in Mercedes’ “45 S” models, while the other 201 hp (204 PS / 150 kW) comes from an electric motor mounted at the rear axle. The four-cylinder also weighs 107 lb (49 kg) less than the old V8, so it should contribute to a better handling car overall, and it sends its power to all four wheels by way of a nine-speed automatic transmission and Mercedes-AMG’s 4MATIC+ performance AWD system.
The fact that this new four-cylinder alone makes the same power as the old non-S V8 is a huge feat in and of itself, let alone the kind of power it makes when coupled with the hybrid system, and it really shows the lengths Mercedes is willing to go through to help people forget the loss of those extra four cylinders.