Mercedes-AMG Just Put a Ferrari-Style Engine in an SUV
A Racing Engine Layout, in a Family SUV
Mercedes-AMG has opened order books on the 2027 GLE 63 S and GLS 63, and the real story isn't the horsepower figure — it's what's inside the engine. Both SUVs get a new 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 built around a flat-plane crankshaft, an architecture almost never used in an SUV. Flat-plane V8s are the layout of choice for high-revving sports car engines — Ferrari's 488 and F8, the Mustang GT350 — because the crank design allows the engine to rev faster and breathe more efficiently, at the cost of some low-end smoothness that a traditional cross-plane V8 handles better. Choosing it for a three-row family SUV is a genuine engineering statement, not just a badge exercise.
With 48-volt mild-hybrid assistance adding 23 hp and 151 lb-ft on top of the combustion engine's own output, total system figures land at 603 hp and 627 lb-ft of torque for both models. The GLE 63 S manages 0-62 mph in 3.9 seconds, the larger GLS 63 in 4.2, and both top out at an identical 174 mph — numbers that would have been hypercar territory a decade ago, now delivered through a nine-speed automatic and standard 4Matic+ all-wheel drive in a vehicle that seats up to seven. The flat-plane crank also changes the exhaust note noticeably versus the outgoing cross-plane AMG V8, giving both SUVs a sharper, higher-pitched character under load that's closer to AMG's sports car range than its previous SUV engines.
Why the Engineering Detail Matters to Buyers Here
Full-size AMG SUVs already have a genuinely strong following in Dubai and the wider GCC — the GLE 63 and GLS 63 have long been among the most recognisable performance SUVs on the road here, and buyers in this market tend to know their engines in real detail, not just their spec sheets. A flat-plane crank swap is exactly the kind of change that matters more to that audience than it would to a typical buyer elsewhere: it's a genuine mechanical differentiator from the outgoing model, not a mid-cycle styling refresh, and it puts real distance between this generation and whatever a rival brand is doing with a more conventional V8.
That distinction tends to show up in resale and desirability too. A generational engine change like this one usually marks a clean dividing line in a model's value curve — the outgoing cross-plane V8 GLE 63 and GLS 63 become a known, well-understood used-market proposition, while the new flat-plane cars carry the premium of being the current, technically superior generation. For buyers deciding whether to secure a current-generation AMG SUV now or wait for the new engine, that's a genuinely material factor, not just marketing language.
At House of Cars Dubai, AMG performance SUVs are consistently among our most requested vehicles, and a change this significant under the bonnet is exactly the kind of detail we walk clients through when they're deciding between a current-generation car and waiting for the next one. We source and place GLE 63s and GLS 63s across Dubai and the wider GCC, old and new generation alike, and can give you a straight read on which makes more sense for your situation. Reach out via WhatsApp if you're weighing that decision.