Mercedes-AMG CLE 'Mythos' – AMG’s next limited-run special loses some disguise
Mercedes-AMG keeps teasing its next limited ‘Mythos’ car and it looks even more extreme than a Black Series
Clearer images of Mercedes-AMG’s mysterious ‘Mythos’ CLE are here, revealing more details of the track-ready coupe’s design. Mercedes is providing us very little information at this stage, but what it has said is that this car will take the concept of the CLE coupe ‘several steps further’.
Whether or not this exclusive Mythos model is the car that will receive the is yet to be seen. If it does, chances are it'll be our first look at the AMG version of the new 4-litre flat-plane crank V8, which we’ve recently driven in a more subdued, limo-suitable form in the new Mercedes S-class.
> I’ve driven Mercedes’ new shape-shifting V8 engine, and it’s blown my mind
Though Mercedes has said before that the V8 won’t fit in the C-class, the CLE’s platform uses a V8-compatible E-class front end. As the second model in Mercedes-AMG’s most exclusive ‘Mythos’ series, following the 250-off £750,000+ SL PureSpeed, being powered by anything less than a new V8 would feel like an anticlimax for this most extreme CLE variant.
The first images showed a mule clad in plenty of camouflage (and snow). While the aggressive widened arches at the front and rear were clear, the bumpers were ‘mule’ spec and not representative of what to expect from the final car. These new images offer more detail.
The original test mule showed a standard Panamericana grille, with a vaned section spanning the width of the car below. This latest test car is fitted with front and rear bumpers that look much closer to being production-ready. The front features a version of the signature grille, extended downward, with flanking intake sections. Additional larger intakes sit below the lights, offering much more cooling for bigger brakes.
Those wider front arches also include 911 GT3 RS-style pressure-reducing vents to pull air through and out of the wheel arch. There’s also the swan-neck rear wing, while the rear bumper features a motorsport-inspired diffuser and what look like cutouts for diagonally stacked exhausts. The whole treatment is reminiscent of the W204 C63 Black Series, only more extreme.
The car that kickstarted this new series was the aforementioned PureSpeed speedster, a roofless SL-based model with a 577bhp V8 and a design inspired by the AMG One hypercar. Mercedes-AMG planned to sell just 250 units as a competitor to the likes of the McLaren Elva and Aston Martin V12 Speedster.
Given the limited nature of these Mythos cars, there's no doubt the new car will be pricey. The PureSpeed was a £750,000+ concern, so there’s every chance the CLE Mythos will cost closer to that than an 'ordinary' £80,000 CLE 53.
