For a moment in time, it felt like AMG had lost its mojo. The C 63 replaced V8 thunder with four-cylinder plug-in hybrid heft; a new E 63 still hasn’t been seen; and the AMG GT is now just an SL coupe instead of the son of the poster-car SLS. Whether you want to blame Euro 7 emissions standards or a new corporate direction, it truly seemed like the days of V8 artillery fire from Affalterbach were coming to a close. What the marque needed was a course correction, and oh boy, is the AMG CLE 646 Spezialanfertigung ever a 44-caliber love letter.
At first glance, the name is a bit weird, and I’m not just talking about how Spezialanfertigung translates to “custom-made.” In the days of natural aspiration, the two numbers after the model designation on an AMG car generally lined up with displacement. An E 55 had a 5.4-liter V8, a C 32 had a supercharged 3.2-liter V6, and so on. Then forced induction came in, and the number 63 came to signify a V8, and the number 65 came to signify a V12. So what does 646 signify? Metric horsepower, right there on the back of the car.
Yep, AMG’s taken Mercedes-Benz’s entry-level coupe and stuffed in a four-liter flat-plane crank biturbo V8 pumping out 637 old-fashioned horsepower and 627 lb.-ft. of torque. Significant numbers by any comparative measure, and figures achieved with nothing more than a 48-volt starter-generator system’s worth of electrification. No heavy multi-kWh battery pack here. No weight-adding, front-axle-feel-sapping all-wheel-drive either, as the nine-speed torque converter automatic transmission powers only the rear wheels through a limited-slip differential. The claimed result is zero-to-124 MPH in 11.4 seconds and a top speed of 192 MPH.
Serious power calls for serious control, unless you’re Dodge or Floridian or something. This is still a midsize 4,178-pound coupe even with all the weight-saving measures, which means the suspension will have to work hard around a circuit. With that in mind, the shocks and struts on the CLE 646 aren’t like what you get on a normal CLE 53. Each damper is a four-way adjustable unit co-engineered with KW that allows for separate compression and rebound adjustment of high-speed and low-speed damping. Sort of like what you get on a Porsche 911 GT3 RS. Big carbon ceramic discs measuring 16.5 inches in diameter up front are paired with six-piston calipers to slow this monster down from Autobahn speeds, although the rear brake setup is curious. Carbon ceramic discs measuring 14.2 inches in diameter sound about right, but single-piston sliding calipers feel like a brave choice, especially if you have the nine-stage traction control system working overtime.
By far and away the most insane thing about the AMG CLE 646 Spezialanfertigung, however, is how it almost makes a Ford Mustang GTD look subtle. It may have started life as a classy empty-nester coupe, but it now sports a hood scoop sized like the one on a Ram TRX, a front end that’s practically 80 percent grille-by-volume, gills the size of dachshunds, a wing large enough to dry your laundry on, and the widest widebody we’ve seen from AMG in more than a decade. It’s all very functional, from guiding air to a massive cooling package to tucking 305-section front tires and 335-section rear tires beneath the arches, but this CLE’s inflamed nostrils feel like a representation of AMG finally getting the good stuff again. Maybe a mixture of bath salts and PCP.
Unsurprisingly, the madness continues through to the interior. Yes, those are bucket seats and six-point harnesses and a half-cage. No, you don’t get sound deadening, or a complete stereo, or even a litany of driver assists. Even drive modes have been reduced to simplify the steering wheel, and the door panels are made of carbon fiber because that’s lighter than soft-touch plastic.
Just look at this thing with its rear tires ablaze. Part of it feels like an apology painted in rubber, part of it feels like a fever dream, part of it makes me wonder if Mercedes-Benz top brass didn’t know of its development until it was already too late. It looks like a Black Series by any other name, which makes it all the more disappointing that Mercedes-AMG is building so few. Only 30 CLE 646s are expected to ever be in existence, and that’s just not a large enough number. This thing’s going to be CLK DTM levels of rare, and that’s unfortunate. After all, if the questionably windshield-less AMG PureSpeed gets a 250-car production run, why not the CLE 646? Maybe it’s a sign that a more sane, more regular V8 CLE is in consideration. Come on, AMG. Stay crazy.
Top graphic image: Mercedes-AMG
It’s the same weight as the previous gen Challenger with the V8. Maybe Daimler and Chrylser aren’t as broken up as them seem…
The fact that V8 and RWD are considered so hardcore at AMG that they need to be limited to a 30-specimen run tells me exactly what drugs AMG is on: tranquilizers.
I remember when Mercedes had handsome designs even for the ridiculous versions.
impressive performance or not, this looks a mess.
Oh hey, now we have a very angry gulper fish! Woohoo!
I’m glad that anyone who can afford this will either 1) never drive it or 2) have enough money to pay someone to detail it regularly because wow, those wheels would be an absolute nightmare to clean.
Oh, and the car is super fugly as expected from MB these days.
I am not at risk of having to worry about paying someone to clean them but in isolation – not even just compared to the rest of the car – those are hot wheels.
Easily the best part of the car, at least visually. And yes, my wallet. bank account, IRA etc will not have to worry about being lightened by this thing.
Am I losing my mind, or is there a large amount of Mustang GTD in this puppy?!?
Yeah it’s definitely a sort of doppelganger
i used to be totally against performance cars. Choked roads. Tickets. no fun. But you CAN find open road. And the cops are short staffed. Geo Floyd riots and defund the police and ACAB. Now. They never pull you over. Ever. When is the last time you saw somebody getting a ticket? Pre riots. Every 10-20 miles? Now? Maybe once a month. Max. Let her rip boys.
I’ve never seen myself as a Mercedes guy, but my crappy CLK55 is worming its way into my heart. I dare anyone to find a more fun beater at poverty prices. Badly programmed automatic transmission aside, the wail of that engine on cam (which it only has two of) makes me grin like the idiot I am on the daily. It’s been a rocky road but ultimately this might be the best $5000 I’ve ever spent. Maybe someday this thing will be a similar value proposition.
WTF is in the water in Stuttgart these days? I remember when Mercedes were beautifully built, if rather staid and stolid cars with generally elegant lines. And now they make nothing but utter nonsense. Usually badly.
And 4200lbs?!? ROFL. Can we get off this timeline? It sucks.
You had me until its suv weight. The best engineering makes mass feel less relevant, but it doesn’t make the mass disappear.
Jesus. Did anyone inside that Pep Boys survive the collision, or did the impact wipe out the whole store?
Eeehhhh
The 4-cyl misstep was clearly not their only problem.
Super unpopular opinion… I liked the 4 cylinder better if they would put it in a lighter car meant for better handling. Instead of 4150lbs how about 3300lbs with 450hp 4 and less hulk?
I just don’t care about a car over 4k pounds. Too heavy. Too hard on tires and brakes. Even IF the straight line is decent it’s burning more gas and consumables just to match a lighter more nimble car.
The previous CLA 45 AMG with that same engine was an absolute peach.
Horrifying.
I want one.
“…and the AMG GT is now just an SL coupe instead of the son of the poster-car SLS.”
That’s an AMG-SL, Son.
More of a replacement for the AMG-GT and AMG-GT Roadster than a replacement for the folding-hardtop SL – because having one two-seater roadster that doesn’t sell is slightly less
redundantcostly than having two two-seater V8 roadsters that didn’t sell.And look at that exciting new color!!! Silver!!!!!!
That’s matte silver, sir!
The car actually runs on small German children that it consumes through its gaping maw. So that’s why it’s limited to only 30 units, the German law exactly allows 30 children powered cars from one OEM at a time.
Apparently they let a 15 year old style it.
So they got the same kid who did the Mustang GTD?
At least the GTD didn’t have the face of a basking shark, but both are over the top boy racer
I don’t know why everything needs to be so extreme nowadays, from political opinions to car design.
Read somewhere else that VW wants to design cars to look less aggressive, which is a good direction imo.
Everyone wants attention now days, good or bad.
I love this thing, but more than 4,000 pounds?! It seems like they could drop half a ton without too much work, right?
Cool for what it is, but the existence of this sort of thing does have the downside of convincing some people that their everyday, usually old model Mercedes sedan is actually a race car that, b/c 2026, needs an obnoxiously loud aftermarket exhaust.
It always seems discordant to me to see a piece of within the ballpark of good German engineering (sigh, wasn’t always this way) that then sounds like a NASCAR racer as it flies past you.
Give the good drugs to the engineers but keep the goddamn stylists sober, please.
“which makes it all the more disappointing that Mercedes-AMG is building so few”
No, I’m good with that. Reduces my chances of seeing this abomination to nearly zero.
Man that’s an ugly car but I respect the hardware.
That’s not a pretty car. I might even call that homely looking.
If the car asked me, “How do I look in this outfit,” I’d borrow a phrase from my southern friends.
Oh, you sweet summer child…
Bless your heart…
What kind of mustang is this?
Great headline.
Another flat-plane V8! Interesting to see that as a trend, I wonder what’s making them more common?
I heard it was easier for them to hit Euro7 emissions. Jason Cammisa explained it on his podcast a few months ago
Anyone reading this later road and track has an article posted May 27 2026 on the new s-class flat plane v8. With good pictures “How Mercedes Made a Flat-Plane Crank V-8 Luxurious For the New S-Class”