AMG Built a 637-HP, Rear-Drive CLE — and All 30 Are Already Sold
The second Mythos Series car drops the CLE 53's all-wheel drive, adds a flat-plane V8, and sheds about 375 pounds — but Mercedes still hasn't said what it costs or whether any come to the US.
Mercedes-AMG has revealed the CLE 646 Spezialanfertigung, a 637-hp, rear-wheel-drive coupe hand-assembled in Affalterbach and capped at 30 cars, every one of which was spoken for before the September 10 debut. So the news isn't the order book. It's what AMG chose to build when it didn't have to sell the result.
The car is the second entry in Mercedes' Mythos Series, the low-volume collector line that opened with the AMG PureSpeed speedster in late 2024. Where that car kept the SL 63's all-wheel drive and its 577-hp V8, the CLE 646 goes the other way: AMG pulled the 4MATIC+ system out of the donor CLE 53 entirely and sends everything to the rear axle through an electronically controlled limited-slip differential.
What AMG changed
Under the carbon-fiber hood is the M177 EVO twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 with a flat-plane crankshaft, rated at 646 PS, or 637 hp, and 627 lb-ft from 2,500 to 4,500 rpm. A 48-volt starter-generator adds up to 23 hp, so this is a mild hybrid rather than a plug-in, and the transmission is the nine-speed AMG Speedshift TCT automatic. Mercedes quotes 0–62 mph in 3.9 seconds, 0–124 mph in 11.4 seconds, and a 193-mph top speed. The exhaust was developed with Akrapovič and leans on titanium to save weight.
The bodyshell is 2.4 inches wider at both ends, reinforced, and fitted with an integrated roll bar. Fenders, hood, roof, side sills, rear apron, trunk lid, and rear wing are all carbon fiber; the rear and rear-side glass is polycarbonate. AMG says the diet removes roughly 375 pounds from the donor car, although the spec sheet still lists a curb weight of 4,178 pounds. More on that below.
The suspension is a steel coilover setup developed with KW automotive, with four-way adjustable dampers (low- and high-speed compression and rebound set independently) and ride height dropped 0.9 inch in front and 0.6 inch at the rear. Carbon-ceramic brakes measure 16.5 inches up front with six-piston calipers and 14.2 inches at the rear, all painted gold. Forged wheels are 11x20 and 12x20, wearing 305/30 and 335/30 tires that AMG says grew out of the rubber developed for the AMG One hypercar.
Aero is where the track intent is plainest. The front diffuser bolts into either a Street or Race position (three fasteners, done by hand, and Race is not meant for public roads), and the center section of the rear wing adjusts manually to match. AMG claims more than 550 pounds of downforce at top speed. Inside, the rear seats, sound deadening, and parking sensors are gone, the audio system is simplified, and racing buckets and a roll bar are standard. Six-point harnesses come with the optional Performance Package.
Where it sits
The obvious benchmark is BMW's M4 CSL: 543 hp, rear drive, 1,000 units, and $139,900 at launch. The AMG has 94 more horsepower but, at 4,178 pounds, hauls roughly 540 pounds more than the 3,640-pound BMW, so the two land within a few percent of each other on power-to-weight. Against its own donor, the 443-hp, $76,300 CLE 53, the CLE 646 adds 194 hp and subtracts two driven wheels.
The bigger story is the engine. AMG's decision to replace the C63's V8 with a four-cylinder plug-in hybrid was widely blamed for that car's cool reception, and this spring AMG chief Michael Schiebe told Car magazine a new V8 would return to the lineup by the end of the year, SUVs first. A flat-plane 4.0-liter has already appeared in the updated S-Class. The CLE 646 pairs that crank layout, which AMG last used in the GT Black Series, with rear drive and a manual-adjust aero package, even if only 30 people get to drive it. Mercedes itself files the car alongside the 1980s AMG 300 CE 6.0 "Hammer" as an example of Affalterbach's hand-built tradition.
"This vehicle came to life because highly rational engineers dreamed of a highly irrational car," said Stefan Weckbach, chairman of Mercedes-AMG.
What Mercedes hasn't said: a price, a delivery timeline, how the 30 cars are split between markets, and whether any are bound for the US. MBUSA distributed the release, but every photo is captioned "European model shown," and there is no mention of American certification. Since the run sold out before anyone saw it, the more useful question is how much of this car filters down to the regular-production V8 AMGs Schiebe has promised.
