Mercedes-AMG GLC 53

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Monday, 17 Aug 2026 13:00 0 4 autotech

Straight-six SUV aims to banish memory of four-cylinder plug-in hybrid

Just about anywhere must be up, you might well say, from where Mercedes’ mid-sized fast SUV – the Mercedes-AMG GLC – used to be. Along with the more prominent C63 super saloon, this was one of the AMGs in which Affalterbach so contentiously succeeded a burbling V8 with a highly-strung, plug-in hybrid four-pot back in 2023.The resulting GLC 63 S E Performance was certainly powerful on paper (671bhp). But, as far as experiments in the potential for the effective gaslighting of wealthy performance-car buyers go, it also proved reputationally chastening for Mercedes.So now, where there used to be two four-pot GLC AMG models, we have just this one: the new Mercedes-AMG GLC 53 4Matic+.The move mirrors changes already seen with the CLE 53 Coupé and Cabriolet, where AMG has begun moving away from heavily electrified four-cylinder powertrains in favour of larger-capacity six-cylinder engines with a more traditional character. The first-generation GLC 63 used a turbocharged 4.0-litre V8, however – still one of the defining engines of the modern AMG era.