Mercedes-AMG CLE 646 Spezialanfertigung brings the V8 back

The C63 is back, complete with a twin-turbo V8 - albeit with several sizeable qualifications. For a start, just 30 examples will be built, every one has already been sold, and it carries what may be the most absurd name to emerge from Sindelfingen.

Say hello to the Mercedes-AMG CLE 646 Spezialanfertigung. No, Germany: your language is not as elegant as Italian, and yes, that really is the official name. You may reasonably ask why it has not been called a Black Series. That is a strong name, one that has genuine Mercedes significance and heritage. We are asking exactly the same question.

Mercedes-AMG CLE 646 Spezialanfertigung and the Mythos range

For the rest of this article, we will use CLE 646 - writing Spezialanfertigung repeatedly would be purely for comic effect. It is the second car in Mercedes’ Mythos collection, a series aimed squarely at collectors. The first was the PureSpeed: a roofless, windscreen-free SL with 585bhp and an £800k price tag, revealed two years ago. Only 250 were produced. You might have expected it to be a difficult proposition - essentially a cheaper Ferrari Monza with identical drawbacks but considerably less glamour.

This one should disappear rather more quickly, ridiculous name notwithstanding. It follows the AMG formula enthusiasts have been requesting for years: a twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 producing 646bhp and 843Nm, with all of that output sent exclusively to the rear wheels. Starting with a CLE 53, Mercedes has reinforced, widened and lowered it before applying a comprehensive motorsport treatment. Think of Ford’s Mustang GTD. Yet production is restricted to only 30 cars. Mercedes has not disclosed the price, and probably never will.

Those are the major points; now for the finer detail. The V8 is Mercedes’ newest M177 Evo ‘hot-vee’ engine, fitted with a flat-plane crank. It is unlikely to deliver the rough, deep V8 soundtrack some buyers may be hoping for, although it should sound far better than a four-cylinder plug-in hybrid.

V8 power and rear-wheel-drive performance

Drive is handled by the nine-speed MCT multi-clutch transmission, while an electronic differential distributes torque between the rear wheels. Its lack of four-wheel drive means it is not exceptionally rapid from a standstill: 0-62mph takes 3.9 seconds and 0-124mph requires 11.4 seconds. For context, the Mustang GTD manages roughly 3.5 and 10.0 seconds respectively. Maximum speed is 193mph.

Mercedes says it has removed 170kg, although the CLE 646 still weighs 1,895kg. That makes it lighter than the Mustang, but more than 400kg heavier than a standard Porsche 911 GT3. Whether AMG acknowledges it or not, those are the Spezialanfertigung’s most obvious competitors.

Like those cars, it is intended as a track-oriented machine. KW helped develop the coilover suspension, which features four-way-adjustable dampers. Ceramic brakes use 420mm front discs clamped by six-piston calipers. Ride height is reduced by 22mm at the front and 16mm at the rear, while the body has been rather comprehensively… enhanced.

A normal CLE Coupé measures 1,861mm across. The AMG CLE 53 gains swollen arches to reach 1,935mm, but this version adds another 52mm. Most of the exterior panels - including the bonnet, boot lid, sills, roof and front wings - are now carbon fibre. The front arches house huge 305/30 ZR20 tyres, while 335-section tyres sit at the rear. There are vents to channel air in and out, the front splitter and rear wing can both be adjusted, and the rear glazing is made from polycarbonate.

Track-focused CLE 646 hardware

The cabin contains a roll cage, racing bucket seats, nine-stage traction control and carbon-fibre door cards. Rear seats, sound insulation and parking sensors have all been discarded. Be careful of that carbon when manoeuvring backwards. Mercedes has also pared back the infotainment and driver-assistance systems, although it has not yet said whether lane-keeping and speed-limit warnings have been removed.

Taken as a whole, though, the conversion does not appear as thorough or as carefully conceived as Ford’s Mustang GTD programme with Multimatic. That car received a completely new rear subframe, a transmission relocated to the rear and inboard suspension. Ford was clearly determined to give the GT3 RS a serious challenge.

Mercedes has taken a more measured route. This is a track car, but it is less extreme than the AMG GT Black Series, never mind the GTD or GT3 RS. Consequently, it seems to be a car without a sharply defined objective beyond being a muscular, thunderous road missile. There is nothing inherently wrong with that - it is what a Black Series has traditionally represented. Which makes the decision not to build more examples and call it a Black Series seem, from our perspective, like a missed opportunity.

We have not yet had the chance to question anyone at Mercedes about what is happening: why it is not a Black Series, how a V8 was fitted into the CLE, why production is so limited, or what this may mean, if anything, for future AMG production cars. We will pursue those answers shortly. We will drive it too, which should hopefully make the picture clearer.

For now, the only conclusion we can draw is that AMG is capable of delivering exactly what we want, but is either being exceptionally stingy or constrained by emissions legislation. Either way, we are going to take a closer look at used C63 Coupés.