The new CLE53 will get its drop-top variant later this year.
If you’re looking for a roadster that’s a bit more affordable than the six-figure SL, the CLE lineup is where you’ll want to look. This car replaces the old C- and E-Class Cabriolets, either in the base CLE300, CLE450 form or this AMG CLE53. Mercedes officially revealed the latter on Monday, with the sort of performance flavor you’d expect. Not only do you get a beefier version of the brand’s 3.0-liter turbocharged, mild-hybrid M256M inline-six, but you also get standard active rear wheel steering and performance-tuned 4Matic all-wheel drive.
Under the hood, the 2025 Mercedes-AMG CLE53 Cabriolet gets the same 443 horsepower and 413 lb-ft of torque as the coupe. The convertible variant sends power to all four wheels through a 9-speed automatic transmission in 4.3 or 4.1 seconds, which is just a tenth of a second off the hard-roof model. That smaller acceleration time makes use of the car’s temporary overboost feature, which bumps the boost pressure up to 22 psi (and therefore torque, up to 443 lb-ft) for up to ten seconds.
Being the AMG model, this beefed up CLE gets larger brakes, with 14.6-inch drilled and ventilated rotors at the front, and 14.2-inch ventilated rotors at the rear. Engineers set up the suspension to be stiffer off the bat, but you also get adaptive shocks to further adjust the firmness to your liking. 19-inch wheels come standard, while you can upgrade to 20-inch units to fill out the wider fenders for a more aggressive stance if you so desire.
On the styling front, the 2025 Mercedes-AMG CLE53 tracks with the coupe as well as the rest of the brand’s revamped lineup. You get sharper headlights up front as well as a large grille with the classic AMG vertical slats. Around back, the design largely tracks with the base CLEs apart from quad exhaust outlets and a different rear diffuser. Instead of the fastback-like roofline, you obviously get the canvas roof instead.
Looking inside the CLE Cabriolet
As for the interior, the 2025 Mercedes-AMG CLE53 Cabriolet gets the same layout as the coupe. Changes from the standard models include sportier bucket seats, contrast stitching on the seats, center console and instrument panel, and a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster display with an adjacent, vertically situated 11.9-inch touchscreen.
If you’re looking to spice your CLE up even further, there are more options on the list once you land on the CLE53 convertible in the first place. You can get the Dynamic Plus package that adds a Race drive mode, active engine mounts and red brake calipers, as well as an AMG Performance steering wheel, as shown above.
Pricing for the new AMG CLE53 has not been announced yet, but expect it to sit at the highest point in the lineup. It will still be several thousand dollars cheaper than the SL, but we expect it to land somewhere in the $80,000 range.
