Michael Scheibe, who runs Mercedes-AMG, told Car Magazine that his division is “doubling down on combustion engines again.” A new V8 arrives before the end of 2026, in an SUV, and spreads to the cars after that.
Enthusiast coverage read that as the C63 getting its eight cylinders back. It is not what he said, and the C-Class is the one model reporting has consistently ruled out.
What AMG is doing is stranger and more revealing than a simple reversal. The engine coming back is not the old cross-plane V8 with a new tune. It is a flat-plane-crank design that until recently lived only in Black Series exotica, and Mercedes has already put a version of it somewhere nobody expected: the S-Class.
Key Takeaways
- The confirmation is real but narrow. AMG chief Michael Scheibe says a new V8 lands in SUVs late in 2026, then moves to cars. He named no model and gave no date.
- The C-Class is excluded. The four-cylinder plug-in hybrid C63 is being replaced by a C53 running a twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six, not a V8.
- It is a flat-plane engine. The 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 swaps the old cross-plane crankshaft for a flat-plane design previously reserved for AMG’s most extreme models.
- The S-Class got it first. Mercedes fitted the base version to the facelifted 2027 S-Class and GLS, where it makes roughly 530 hp. AMG’s output has not been announced.
- Scheibe blames battery weight. He argues that for a lightweight car “sometimes it’s best to have a V8-only car,” a direct rebuke of the hybrid formula AMG spent years defending.
- A V8 C63 remains unconfirmed. Several outlets expect one after the C53 arrives. Earlier reporting said engineers considered the swap impractical without substantial revision.
What Scheibe Committed To
The quotes are short and the specifics are thin. Scheibe told Car Magazine the V8 would appear in SUVs “at the end of this year” before reaching cars, and framed the decision as a return to engines the division had been moving away from.
He did not name a vehicle. Reporting has floated a GT-based Black Series, a new E63, and a limited CLE coupe under the Mythos banner, with one figure of 646 hp attached to the coupe. Treat all of that as informed guessing. Mercedes has announced none of it.
The reasoning he offered carries more weight than the timing. Asked why a V8 rather than another plug-in hybrid, Scheibe pointed at mass: batteries add “a lot of weight,” and “if you want a lightweight car, sometimes it’s best to have a V8-only car.”
Coming from AMG, that is close to an admission. The division spent the last several years arguing the opposite.
The C63 Experiment It Undoes
To understand why the sentence matters, look at what AMG built when it removed the last C63’s V8.
The replacement paired a 2.0-liter four-cylinder with an electric motor and a small battery for a combined output north of 670 hp, a figure that comfortably beat the V8 it succeeded. On paper the car won. In showrooms and in reviews it did not, because the character went missing. Buyers who wanted a C63 wanted the noise and the shove of a large engine, and a boosted four with a hybrid system delivered numbers instead of theater.
AMG is now unwinding it. The C63 badge steps aside for a C53 built around a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six, dropping the plug-in hardware and its mass along with it.
That is a smaller engine than a V8 and a better one than a four. It also means the model most associated with this argument is the model that will not be receiving the new eight.
On a V8 C63 later: multiple outlets expect the badge to return with eight cylinders once the C53 is established. Earlier reporting quoted insiders saying the installation would demand significant engineering changes to the C-Class. Both accounts are live. Nothing is confirmed.
Why a Flat-Plane Crank in an S-Class Is the Odd Part
Crankshaft layout decides how a V8 behaves, and the two designs feel nothing alike.
A cross-plane crank spaces its journals at ninety degrees, firing unevenly between banks. That irregularity produces the low, loping rumble people recognize as an American or German V8, and it comes with a heavy counterweighted crank that resists revs. A flat-plane crank puts everything on one plane at 180 degrees, alternating banks evenly. Ferrari builds V8s this way. So does the Voodoo engine in Ford’s Shelby GT350. They spin higher, weigh less, and shriek rather than rumble, at the cost of secondary vibration that has to be engineered around.
AMG has used one before, in the GT Black Series, a track-focused machine sold to people who accepted harshness as part of the transaction.
Putting that architecture into an S-Class inverts the logic. Autocar reports Mercedes told it the updated engine raises output from 370 kW to around 395 kW, roughly 530 hp, with a 0-100 km/h time near four seconds in the facelifted car. Those are respectable figures for a limousine and not remotely the point. The point is that Mercedes chose a rev-hungry, vibration-prone crankshaft for the quietest vehicle it builds.
The likeliest explanation is efficiency and packaging rather than sound. A lighter rotating assembly and better exhaust scavenging help emissions numbers, and one engine family serving both the S-Class and AMG is cheaper than two. Whatever drove it, the sound of a Mercedes V8 is about to change.
What This Says About the Rest of the Industry
AMG is not alone in walking something back. The wider pattern through 2025 and 2026 has been manufacturers discovering that the customers who pay the most for performance cars are the least interested in trading character for a spec sheet.
Scheibe’s weight argument states the mechanism behind that discovery. A plug-in hybrid performance car carries several hundred pounds of battery and motor to produce a number, and the number arrives without the sensation buyers were paying for. Removing the hardware makes the car lighter, simpler, and cheaper to build, and it happens to make it sound like the thing on the badge.
The caution worth holding onto is that none of this is a product announcement. An executive said combustion is coming back and gave a season. No model, no output, no price, no market confirmation for the United States.
AMG has changed direction before, loudly, and then shipped something different from what the interview implied.
Bottom Line
A new AMG V8 is coming this year, it goes into an SUV first, and it uses the flat-plane crankshaft Mercedes already slipped into the 2027 S-Class. What is not coming is a V8 C63. That car gets an inline-six and a new badge, which makes the headline version of this story exactly backwards. Scheibe’s most useful remark was about battery weight, because it concedes what the last C63 proved in the market.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mercedes-AMG bringing back the V8?
Yes. AMG chief Michael Scheibe told Car Magazine a new V8 arrives before the end of 2026, debuting in an SUV and reaching cars afterward. He did not name a model or give a specific date.
Will the AMG C63 get a V8 again?
Not with this engine. The C63’s four-cylinder plug-in hybrid is being replaced by a C53 using a twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six. A V8 C63 further out is widely expected but has never been confirmed, and earlier reporting suggested it would need substantial reengineering.
What is the new AMG V8?
A 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 with a flat-plane crankshaft, replacing the cross-plane design in the outgoing engine. Outlets differ on the internal code, with some calling it an evolution of the M177. Mercedes has not published a designation for the AMG version.
What is the difference between a flat-plane and cross-plane V8?
A cross-plane crank fires unevenly between cylinder banks, producing the deep rumble associated with traditional V8s, and uses a heavier crankshaft. A flat-plane crank alternates banks evenly, allowing higher revs and less weight, with a sharper exhaust note and more secondary vibration to control.
Which cars already have the flat-plane V8?
Mercedes fitted the base version to the facelifted 2027 S-Class and the GLS, where it produces roughly 530 hp. AMG previously used a flat-plane V8 in the GT Black Series.
How much power will the AMG version make?
Unannounced. The non-AMG application makes about 530 hp, and AMG’s variant is expected to exceed it. A figure of 646 hp has circulated in connection with a rumored CLE special edition, but that number is speculation.
Which AMG model gets the V8 first?
An SUV, per Scheibe, though he named none. Reporting has pointed at a GT-based Black Series, a returning E63, and a CLE-based Mythos edition as later recipients. None is confirmed.
Why is AMG moving away from plug-in hybrids?
Scheibe cited weight, saying batteries add “a lot of weight” and that for a lightweight car “sometimes it’s best to have a V8-only car.” The four-cylinder hybrid C63 made more power than the V8 it replaced but drew persistent criticism for losing the character buyers expected.
What is the AMG C53?
The model replacing the C63 in AMG’s C-Class lineup, powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six without the plug-in hybrid system. It is expected to be revealed before the V8 reaches passenger cars.
Will these engines be sold in the United States?
Mercedes has not confirmed US availability for any specific model, since no model has been announced. AMG sells its performance range in the United States, so American availability is likely rather than certain.
Michael Kahn
Michael Kahn is the writer, photographer, and publisher behind The Weekly Driver. He cares about how cars drive and what they're like to own. He covers automobile industry news, car shows and events, and new car reviews. The reviews come from behind the wheel: day trips that favor back routes, treating a good meal as half the reason to go. He directs and produces the visual media, matching each car to a setting and mood that fit it. When he's not reviewing new cars, Michael races paddleboards, camels, and ostriches, along with the occasional exotic car on the racetrack, and has driven in every state and country visited.
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