Daimler Electrics Get Fake Vroom to Thwart Silent Threat: Cars

Christoph Meier, a sound engineer at Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG, typically spends time making engine noise less jarring. For the carmaker’s new electric models, he’s had to do the opposite -- create sound.

For Daimler’s e-Smart city car, Meier and his team invented a “sonorous purring” that was pitched higher than conventional vehicles, while Mercedes’s 416,500-euro ($569,600) SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive gets huskier tones to reflect its power.