How much longer will you be able to buy a new car with a gas or diesel engine? The answer is both further out and sooner than you feared, but it’s not going to happen overnight.
The Chair of Mercedes-Benz has just spoken about the future of internal combustion with the company, and it’s a long runway.
Engines Aren’t Going Away Soon, But They Are Going
Mercedes-AMG GT engineMercedes-Benz
If you had asked five years ago, we would have told you to expect the end of the ICE age by the end of the decade. Multiple major auto markets were looking at bans, and automakers were pledging to be electric only by 2030. But political pressure has softened most, if not all, of them.
Ask Mercedes-Benz Chairman Ola Källenius now, and he’ll tell you: “the combustion engine, it will be around for minimum 10, probably 15 years more.” Those were his words at a recent media event in India, Autocar reports.
He said that a complete transformation from internal combustion to electric would be a 20- to 25-year process. He didn’t say if that clock had already started, and Mercedes-Benz has already reversed its 2021 plan to be all-electric by 2030.
Mercedes-Benz has just launched a new gas-powered V8. The latest S-Class launched with a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 designed to meet the latest European emissions standard, Euro 7. The rest of the company’s gas engines will be updated to meet it as well, but they won’t be the only ones.
Are There That Many Diesel Engines Left?
2021 Mercedes-Benz E-Class wagon diesel hybrid UKMercedes-Benz
Källenius said that even Benz’s diesel engines were ready for Euro 7. While Mercedes-Benz doesn’t sell as many diesel-powered cars as it once did, Källenius said that diesels were still important.
Light commercial vehicle buyers prefer diesels, like the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van. Källenius said that drivers of large passenger cars who cover long distances – 36,000 to 42,000 miles per year – also want the option. For that reason, “[diesel] will stay in the portfolio for the foreseeable future,” he said.
2019 – 2026 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Cargo Van 907_910 (3rd Gen)Mercedes-Benz
Benz will still offer electric alternatives across nearly its entire lineup, and those offerings should be ready by the end of the decade. Källenius said the end goal is still zero-emissions, but until then Benz will offer options for new energy and old energy.
In 2021, Benz announced that from 2025, it would only launch new electric platforms. From there, it expected to be fully electric by 2030, but hedged that estimate a bit on market performance. Then in 2024, Benz announced a reversal. It is now launching new gas models as well as new EVs, and instead of 100% electric, it now anticipates 50% electrification, including hybrids, by that time.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
The Mercedes-Benz AMG GT XX smashed 25 EV records in August, 2025.Mercedes-Benz
Automakers have a healthy lobby, but they’re also at the mercy of regulators. When the EU was ready to ban ICE vehicles completely by 2035, automakers like Mercedes-Benz moved quickly to get EVs to market.
When legislators started to show signs of backing down, so did the automakers. Now, like Mercedes-Benz, many are working on getting back to business as usual. If legislators swing back the other way, the car companies will respond, and we’ll all pay the price.
Source: Autocar
