“Mercedes-Benz in-house tuner AMG is best known for its thunderous, cacophonous V-8 gasoline engines. The brand’s latest model is something of a departure, though.
The 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG still offers ballistic performance, but uses only a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine–albeit turbocharged to 355 horsepower.
AMG has now said that it’s a trend it expects to continue — while hybrids knock high-performance diesels aside in the pursuit of both power and economy.
According to Edmunds (via our sister site Motor Authority), AMG Chairman Ola Källenius thinks hybrids will be the future of performance vehicles.
Diesel, says Källenius, doesn’t deliver the aggressive characteristics of a gasoline engine — nor its pure throttle response, nor the NASCAR-style sounds common to many AMG products.
Hybrids, on the other hand, still allow automakers to use gasoline engines as a main source of propulsion, without sacrificing too much in the way of efficiency.
AMG will produce a hybrid vehicle “when the market is ready for it and in markets [that require it] due to their regulations”….”
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