- whereas mercedes is reportedly suspending nearly all u.s. sales of cars with v-8 engines for the 2022 model year, aston martin says it's not.
- mercedes's planned suspension, which includes mercedes-amg, is said to be supply chain related, although changes in global emissions regulations are also possibly implicated.
- meanwhile, an aston spokesperson told c/d that the automaker's v-8 supplies are just fine.
mercedes has yet to confirm it will be pulling most of its v-8–powered portfolio in the u.s. for the next model year, but the company has not denied reports that it will be doing so. on the other hand, we have some good news for those considering the purchase of even more luxurious vehicles featuring the same powerplant: confirmation from aston martin that it is not affected by any supply issues.
aston uses the 4.0-liter amg-built twin-turbo v-8 in the majority of its current production, the bought-in engine powering the vantage, less powerful versions of the db11, and the recently launched dbx suv. it has even managed to make the high-bred powerplant work with a clutch and stick shift in the soon-to-be-discontinued vantage manual. last year aston used more than 2500 of them in its various models, and the increasing sales of the dbx means the total this year will almost certainly be higher.
but while mercedes seems to be struggling to get v-8s into the hands of buyers, even those in parts of the world (like the u.s.) currently unconstrained by increasingly stringent fleet economy standards, aston says it isn’t facing any shortages.
"aston martin confirms that its supply of v-8 engines from aston martin ag is not affected," a spokesperson told car and driver. which is as close to a corporate nothing-to-see-here as we are ever likely to get.
given both the deepening technical partnership between aston martin and mercedes, which owns 20 percent of the british company, and what we can safely presume is a heavyweight engine supply contract, it could well be that production of the "customer spec" engines designed for the u.k. will actually be prioritized over those for amg's own models.
aston boss tobias moers, formerly head of amg, recently told us that his new company will soon be using mercedes-sourced hybridized v-8 powerplants, and that the forthcoming mid-engine valhalla supercar will be powered by a bespoke, british-built version of the amg 4.0-liter.
so if your local mercedes dealer can’t sell you the v-8 you crave, save harder for an aston instead.