Mercedes wins engine of the year honor

Some car companies are chassis companies, such as Lotus or Jaguar, while other car companies such as Ferrari and Mercedes are engine companies. Having a powerful engine can overcome many of the defects of a car, that’s for sure. Recently, Mercedes, known for its powerful factory, received the highest honor for its engine.

Every year in Europe, there’s a slew of auto industry awards given out. There are categories for fuel efficiency, car of the year, build quality, the whole gambit. Naturally, there’s one for “Engine Of The Year”, and this year, Mercedes took top honors.

The AMG 6.3-liter V8 engine received two awards, one for “Best Performance Engine” and another in the “Above 4 liters” category. The 6.3-liter mill cranks out a whopping 525 naturally aspirated horsepower and took first place by a wide margin in each class. In the “2 to 2.5 liters” category, Mercedes’ new four-cylinder diesel unit also took first place by a comfortable margin.

The awards are given out by the British motoring publisher UKIP Media & Events. There are 12 categories for engines and the winners are decided by an independent jury of 64 well-known motoring journalists from 32 countries. Mercedes had to compete against engines from Germany, Italy, Great Britain, the USA and Japan.

The AMG 6.3-liter V8 engine that took top honors in the “Best Performance Engine” and “Above 4 liters” categories is quite the impressive plant, especially when you consider it’s a large-scale production engine. It’s naturally aspirated and displaces 6208 cc and cranks out 525 hp, and a maximum torque of 630 Newton meters. Mercedes saw fit to drop this plant into seven AMG high-performance cars such as the C 63 AMG and the SL 63 AMG.

Mercedes says that all of this ended up on the street via their racing efforts on the track, calling it a ” ... a concerted technology transfer from motor racing, something that has been firmly embedded in the corporate philosophy of Mercedes-AMG for more than four decades.” Amen brother! Jury member Bill McKinnon from the USA said this about the AMG 6.3-liter V8: “Enormous pulling power and the responsiveness of a racing engine, combined with a “Wagneresque” soundtrack – this AMG V8 sets the standard.”

Who are we to argue?

Mercedes’ diesel engine is remarkable in its own ways. It’s a four-cylinder, direct-injection diesel engine with high performance with exemplary fuel economy. The most powerful alternative develops 204 hp from a displacement of just 2143 cc, with a maximum torque of 500 Newton meters. Mercedes uses the engine in both the new E-Class and C-Class, and when installed in the C 250 CDI, the engine has a combined fuel consumption of just 5.1 liters per 100 kilometers. Australian jury member John Carey describes the engine as having “Effortless performance and an unbelievably low fuel consumption.”

Mercedes, always a hard car to argue against.

This is their press release: