The climate wars have been very bloody for the automotive industry, putting the era of the big engine largely in the rearview mirror. Regulators have increasingly tightened the screw to force manufacturers to sell more efficient vehicles, while, at the same time, consumers now pay far more attention to fuel economy. With that kind of backdrop, you wouldn't expect an engine like a V8 to survive at all, but remarkably it has. Engineers have developed a way to make those eight cylinders compatible with the emissions' math, with hybridization as the magic formula. Planners knew that without some form of electrification, they'd have to retire the V8, or at least, when it comes to sensible production volumes going forward. And so, hybridization was never some type of greenwashing exercise or performance gimmick, but in terms of V8 survival, it was a necessity.
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