After first being spotted just a month ago, our spy photographers have once again spotted the 2023 Mercedes-Benz CLE Coupe testing in public. This time they looked at the car a little longer and managed to film it on the dreaded Nürburgring.
Although he is still wearing camouflage to help Mercedes to hide its stylistic features, this time the light fell on the car a little better. This brought out a couple of character lines near the windows better, giving us a better idea of what the car will look like when the film comes off.
The test car’s camouflage had holes cut into the wrap to let air through during its track testing, giving us a slightly better view of the front fascia and grille design for the CLE.
Elsewhere, the familiar single-stripe grille can be seen on both examples, although there’s more chrome on the track. However, in both cases it is accompanied C-class-stylish headlights, which makes sense given the positioning of this coupe.
Designed to replace both the E-Class and C-Class Coupe, CLE will help Mercedes simplify the model range. The brand has been very tight-lipped about it, however, so much remains unknown about it. Even the name is speculative at this point.
The smart money, however, is on the CLE sharing its engine options C-class. So we expect the base model to have a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that makes 255 hp. (190 kW / 258 hp) and 295 lb-ft (400 Nm) of torque. CLE 43 can develop up to 402 hp. (300 kW / 408 hp) and 369 lb-ft (500 Nm) of torque.
Inside, meanwhile, we expect it to share a lot with the latest C-Class, with the familiar 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster likely to join the 11.9-inch infotainment system. A convertible version of the CLE testing was also observed.
The CLE is expected to debut later this year, with production to begin in 2023 at the Mercedes plant in Bremen, Germany.
https://www.carscoops.com/2022/08/2023-mercedes-cle-coupe-tackles-the-nurburgring/
