Mercedes-AMG committed to boosting V8

There's plenty more life left in AMG's ferocious 4.0-litre twin turbo V8 according to the man who helped create it.

AMG development engineer Bertram Tschamon said the engine that is the heart of the flagship AMG GT and various 63 models - including the C63 and E63 - is still undergoing development with the view to further boosting power.

"The engine is not really old," said Tschamon. "We are still improving the V8 engine, we are not thinking about making a new one so far."

The 4.0-litre V8 - which is essentially two 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbos joined together - is produced in various guises, from the 350kW unit used in the basic AMG GT to the 450kW version in the E63 AMG (pictured below).

But AMG is working on versions with more power.

Tschamon was reluctant to go into details, other than to say AMG would "never give up" in relation to getting more out of the 4.0-litre V8.

"We are still improving the V8 engine, we are not thinking about making a new one so far," he said, adding that engineers had looked at what they would change in the basic architecture and decided that the current engine is pretty close to the mark.

"If you would design a new [one] ... what would we change? It would be basically the same again.

"There are few things we could change on it, but bore and stroke ratio, width of the engine, size and place of turbochargers and so-on, we would pretty much do the same again. So there's no point in making a new engine that looks basically the same."

However, Tschamon hinted the development and changing automotive world would likely lead to a new V8 soon.

"Maybe we'll have a brilliant idea in five years...".

In the meantime, AMG is developing a petrol-electric drivetrain using the the 4.0-litre V8. It showcased the technology in the stunning four-door GT Concept (pictured above) at the recent Geneva motor show, where it produced up to 600kW of power.

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