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
Look the mustang GTD learned german!
Most designers these days are just lost in a single dimension that they can’t find their way out of. It has to look angry! It therefore needs lots of holes and intakes and teeth and sharp edges that could CUT you! Grrrrrrrrr!!!! The talent pool, when it comes to automotive design, is stretched thin it seems.
I’d love 90s style AMG Q cars. Subtle aero, silver, monoblocks.
Unfortunately the base material these days is already tacky and aggressive