European exhaust regulations kill off last bit of hope

First, it was the widespread implementation of turbos and now the exhaust...

2019 doesn't seem to be a good year for us petrol heads; ICE supercars are being discontinued (Audi R8), practical filters delayed a bunch models massively. And then there is a rather painful change in European exhaust regulations. In what way? Hold on for a bit while I run you through the current situation first. 

If you have driven or owned anything with a sports exhaust. You're probably familiar with buttons that open up the valves and close them. That last function is what was labeled as the car's standard-setting and thus the manufacturers could pass the current European exhaust regulations. And we petrol heads still get to enjoy a proper exhaust note by the flick of a switch. It probably saved a lot of people fight with their neighbors too. 

And then Motoring talked to AMG about what surprisingly seems to be a surprise for the industry and really everyone else. No longer do the European exhaust regulations judge the standard-setting, it now applies to its loudest. And here's another link to AMG: the new A45 S and CLA 45 S have been affected by this issue as you can hear here. The brand stated that they won't develop an exhaust for different markets because it is too complex and expensive. 

Since a vast amount of performance cars are constructed by European brands, or have large parts of their sales there, this is nothing but bad news. Sure, we can go and get aftermarket exhausts but it won't ever be the same. Especially for those purists out there, they're lost. 

We'll try and keep you guys updated on these new regulations. When more becomes clear on what current and upcoming models are affected, we'll let you know through social media or here.