It appears the future of the Mercedes-Benz V12 engine will be left in the capable hands of in-house mega-tuners AMG, (or ‘Mercedes-AMG GmbH’ as they are officially titled), leaving Mercedes-Benz to worry about developing greener and more economical powertrains. This may not be of much significance to people with 1.0-litre Daihatsu Charades in their driveway, but for petrolheads like us, it’s good to know the rare V12 beast has an assured, high powered, sporting future ahead of it.

Cue a short history lesson. The letters AMG are made up by the surnames of its two founding engineers: Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher, followed by the town in which Aufrecht was born, Großaspach. Aufrecht and Melcher came together in the 1960s to design, test and race Mercedes-Benz’s first direct injection racing engines. By 1976, when their operation had moved to the town of Affalterbach and where it is still based today, they started making tuning packages for Mercedes-Benz road cars as well.

The Mercedes-Benz V12 engine has become a slightly obscure fit of late in the range, with the AMG V8 equivalents often providing more power, response and prestige than the standard V12. At the moment, the current V12 is only present in the Mercedes S65, CL65, G65 AMG and the Pagani Huayra. The first model to receive the newest AMG-developed V12 is expected to be the next generation of the Mercedes-Benz S600 limousine in 2014.

Being gifted the opportunity to build the largest and most exclusive powerplant in the Mercedes-Benz and Pagani ranges seems to be a fitting tribute to the amazing work AMG have done of late. Not only do they produce sporty, emotive, tyre shredding engines, but they’ve also made tham far more economical than they’ve ever been too.