We first brought up the topic of a diesel-powered AMG Mercedes last April after the New York Auto Show. Now on the heels of the Audi R8 V-12 TDI in Detroit, the story is back. AMG is the in-house tuning arm of Mercedes-Benz that installs over-sized, over-powered engines into the Stuttgart machines and adds suspension, brake and visual aids to match the output. According to AutoExpress, AMG is very close to pulling the trigger on a diesel engine. In AMGs hands the Mercedes-Benz 4.0L V-8 with 320 hp and 538 ft-lbs of torque would be the likely starting point. Something approaching the 700+lb-ft of torque in the R8 would probably be the target. With new CO 2 standards coming in the EU, Mercedes will surely be loathe to give up the profits the AMG models surely generate and this would definitely be a way to do it without sacrificing much, if any, performance.
[Source: AutoExpress]
https://www.autoblog.com/2008/01/26/mercedes-could-be-jumping-into-the-high-performance-diesel-race/
2008-01-26T13:39:00+00:00