Mercedes-AMG To Say Farewell To Its Hairy Chested Bi-Turbo V12 Engine

The ever-increasing fuel economy standards were sure to be eventual the death of big displacements engines. A new rumor floating around says that death is coming soon for Mercedes' famed bi-turbo V12 engine. That engine is found under the hood of the Mercedes SL roadster with the most appealing version being the Mercedes-AMG SL 65 with the bi-turbo 603hp V12 underfoot.

A German blog called mbpassion has cited a source that claims the production of the bi-turbo V12 AMG SL 65 will end in the next few months. That was a very expensive car ringing in at $222,000 and it didn't offer much in the way of a performance improvement compared to the bi-turbo V8 SL 63 that sat right under it for $70,000 less.

That SL 63 Roadster rings in at $152,850 and hits 60 mph in 4.0 seconds compared to the 3.9 second run for the SL 65 V12. Anyone who follows Mercedes won’t be surprised by this announcement; AMG head Tobias Moer said last year that the V12 wasn't needed in anything other than Maybach. Moer said at the time that this could also be the last generation of the V12 AMG S-Class.

Word is that when the next generation SL roadster bows, it will be an AMG exclusive and pack a hybrid V8 with over 800hp. That sounds insane and appealing all at the same time. Mercedes isn't making an official announcement on this rumor, all it has said is no formal decision has been made.

It's hard to justify that big, heavy hunk of metal under the hood in the form of a V12 when Mercedes already has bi-turbo AMG V8 engines that make more power. The V8 in the Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S makes 630hp and is packed into a larger 4-door car with a 0-60 mph time of 3.1 seconds. Cram that beast under the hood of the SL and few will lament the loss of the V12.