Happenings

Hamilton, Bottas and the new E63 S

BY Marcus Lim

Mercedes-Benz hosted an F1 driver meet-and-greet in conjunction with local debut of the E63 S

At the poolside of the Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore last Thursday, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas met invited guests and engaged in a public Q&A session. TV presenter Paula Malai, who chatted with the drivers and facilitated the Q&A session, emceed the event. 

The event also marked a Mercedes-AMG milestone — the 50th anniversary of Mercedes-Benz’s performance arm. Over the past half-century, Mercedes-AMG has upheld their brand promise of ‘Driving Performance’, and continues to do so with the new Mercedes-AMG E63 S.

The E63 S, having been fitted with a 612 hp, 850 Nm 4-litre twin-turbo V8 engine — the most powerful engine ever to go into an E-class — has redefined performance benchmarks in the segment. 100 km/h comes up in just 3.4 seconds, up to an electronically limited top speed of 250 km/h that can be increased to 300 km/h with the AMG Driver’s Package.

Power is transmitted to the wheels via the nine-speed AMG SPEEDSHIFT MCT transmission, which replaces the torque converter with a wet start-off clutch. Software development has also enabled extremely short shift times, fast multiple downshifts and double-clutching.

One highlight of the E63 S is the new standard 4MATIC+ all-wheel drive system that was previously only available as an option on certain markets. It combines the advantages of various drive configurations by distributing torque variably to match driving conditions — ensuring optimum traction all the way to the limit, in any condition. As with all AMGs however, it is still entirely possible to hang the tail out sideways — the 4MATIC+ system offers a ‘drift mode’ that disengages the front wheels to make the car purely rear-wheel drive.

You can now get your hands on the most powerful four-door saloon in Singapore, as the E63 S is already available, at S$568,888 inclusive of COE.