Mercedes-Benz new M256 engine family is coming soon

Words by Afzal Rawuther

Mercedes-Benz is reportedly working on an all new series of engines and is expected to showcase them at the Los Angeles Auto show in November. These new engines are from a new family called the M256 and would be first put to use in the all-new 2018 CLS, with the E-Class, C-Class and GL Range soon to follow. AMG variants of the same will soon follow. These engines will be inline engines and as Mercedes likes to put it, designed and engineered for use with an electric drivetrain.

Mercedes Benz is claiming a maximum of 424bhp output just from this new engine. The engines will be coupled with an electric motor and two turbochargers. One of the turbochargers will be conventionally powered by the exhaust gases and the other will be powered by the electric motor thereby compensating for any turbo lag that might be present.

AMG however has its own designs on this new engine family and really exciting ones at that. They intend to bring forth a new AMG 53 line-up of cars that will replace the AMG 43 line-up that have been criticised for being too mild to be called AMGs. The CLS 53 AMG will be launched soon after the new vanilla CLS makes its way to showrooms. The iteration of the M256 engine that will see service in the AMG 53 series of cars will possibly be the engine in its highest state of tune i.e. 424bhp and will be coupled with an electric motor that will add in a further 70bhp. The total puts it way above the 392bhp that the current CLS 43 AMG puts out. The torque too, Mercedes claims, will be above 500Nm.

The 53 engine family will be ushering in an era of 48V power for Mercedes Benz with an Integrated Starter-Alternator (ISG) and an Electric Auxillary Compressor (eZV) that can boost up to 70,000 rpm in inside 300 milliseconds – all these additions subsequently helping with quicker power delivery and better fuel efficiency. It is expected that this would sound the death knell for the 3-litre V6 that is being used in a lot of Mercedes Benz products.

With the launch of these new AMG cars, enthusiasts are certainly going to be thrilled with the option of these inline engines and their silky smooth, vibration free power delivery. Mercedes-Benz has relentlessly been bringing their premium products to India, so you can expect to see them here soon after their international launch.