New Mythos will be 'extreme' AMG coupe
You wanted a proper, V8-powered CLE? Mercedes-AMG appears to be pulling out all the stops...
Safe to say that the response to AMG’s ditching of the 4.0-litre V8 for the C- and E-Class models wasn’t exactly warm. The straight-six E53 delivered the power of the old 63, but with too little of the charm. The four-cylinder C63 was faster still, but with its limited EV range, strange sound and compromised boot, it tended to put off the sort of person that sought out its predecessor. The fact both AMGs are so seldom seen on the road speaks volumes.
But at least the CLE 53 proved itself an immensely likeable straight-six AMG - which makes the arrival of this AMG prototype all the more exciting. Because while clearly derived from the existing two-door coupe, it’s demonstrably a more serious car as well. In point of fact, this is actually due to be the second model in Mercedes’ Mythos series, so a step above your average Affalterbach hot rod. And in case you'd forgotten, the first Mythos car, was the PureSpeed, an F1-inspired roadster of which just 250 are going to be made.
What’s important about that car for this new one is the powertrain: the PureSpeed was powered by the legendary hot-vee 4.0-litre turbo, with 585hp. Given everything that’s happened over the past few years, there seems absolutely no way that Mercedes would make a limited-run AMG coupe with anything fewer than eight cylinders. Not if they wanted to sell any, at least.
Not only would anything less than a V8 mean the new pumped-up body is writing cheques that its engine couldn’t cash, there is also the prospect of a new engine in town. The incoming S-Class, due to be revealed later this week, is said to feature a new flat-plane crank V8 - super-heating that lump in short order would be just the kind of statement that Mercedes-AMG needs. After all, the last time it featured the configuration, it was doling out 740hp in the old GT Black Series.
We're probably talking about less output here, although if the ‘strikingly uncompromising’ test mule ramps up the already muscular CLE look to steroidal levels. The bonnet hump could slow cars down in a London LTN, the grille is monstrous, the spoiler wildly inappropriate and the roll cage all too visible. Its maker says the aggressive look will be ‘backed by a correspondingly powerful drivetrain’...
Even though the eventual launch of a Mercedes-AMG CLE 63 has been widely predicted (it having been caught testing for some time), the brand likely knows that even a hint of the V8-powered coupe we’ve all been yearning for is more than sufficient to spark excitement. It’s definitely going to be limited production, though, and whatever is coming will be ‘exceptionally extreme’. Given the general level of enthusiasm for AMG at the moment, this still-to-be-unveiled new Mythos can’t come soon enough…
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