Mercedes CEO says he's a convert to fake V8 sounds in EVs: 'I was like a born-again Christian'

EVs are normally very quiet.

Mercedes' CEO thinks the legacy automaker found the right V8-ish solution.

Getty Images/Business Insider Mercedes-Benz's new sport-trim EVs will get a sensory experience that mimics gas cars.

Car seats will shake.

Engine noises will burble from speakers.

The company's CEO called the system the "best V8 I'd ever driven." Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius has found religion in synthetic engine noise.

He said his conversion came when he drove the new electric version of the AMG CLA 45, Mercedes' performance sedan.

It uses artificial sounds and sensations to mimic a combustion-powered car.

"I was like a born-again Christian," he told UK car enthusiast publication Autocar .

"It was the best V8 I'd ever driven: It had all the feeling of a V8 but with more power and torque." Electric vehicles have posed numerous design challenges for legacy automakers, forcing decades-old brands to rethink everything from exterior styling to digital cabin layouts .

Sound has been particularly thorny for performance brands: EVs accelerate without an engine's grunting revs, gear changes, or exhaust note.

Hyundai's Ioniq 5 N and Dodge's electric Charger Daytona have tried to fill that sensory gap with simulated sounds and shifts, to varying degrees of success.

Mercedes already offers synthetic soundscapes in some mainstream EVs.

Its sport-branded AMG models go further, with multiple forms of sensory feedback that mimic the sensations experienced by gas-powered racers.