Say Goodbye To The RWD Mercedes-AMG E63: The Next One Will Be AWD Only

When leaked stats for the next Mercedes-AMG E63 landed a few months ago, the unholy 603bhp and 627lb ft of torque put out by the S model immediately had us thinking about the potential for masses of tyre smoke. However, it turns out there won’t actually be a rear-wheel drive version.

Speaking to Topgear.com, AMG boss Tobias Moers mentioned that in Germany - where there was the option of rear or all-wheel drive for the outgoing E63 - 90 per cent of buyers opted for all-wheel drive, signalling that: “People in that segment are looking for four-wheel drive.”

Given just how high the power figures are getting in these kind of cars, it’s not surprising to see a greater demand for all-wheel drive. Indeed, it’s long been rumoured that the next BMW M5 may go for the all-wheel drive only route, or at least have the option of having all wheels driven for the first time.

The all-wheel drive system in the E63 will be all-new, and while no details have been given thus far, expect it to favour the rear-most tyres. So in other words, it should still be up for tyre-smoking tomfoolery. Good.

It’ll also be very, very fast - according to those leaked figures we mentioned earlier, the top S model will do 0-62mph in just 3.5 seconds. This is all thanks to a worked-over version of the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 found in the AMG GT and C63, and even the ‘standard’ version will be good for 563bhp.