Mercedes-AMG GLE 53: 576bhp punch for tweaked sports SUV

On sale Late 2026 | Price from £100,000 (est)

When it comes to boxing, athletes are wisely split into divisions to ensure fair competition and to prevent the lightweights being overpowered by the bigger, heavier and stronger fighters. It’s often the heavyweights who top the bill for the evening, but the undercards provide no less of a spectacle. 

So while the Mercedes GLE 63 S is like Mike Tyson, the GLE 53 is more of your Evander Holyfield: slightly less powerful, rather less well-known. But given their strength and reputation, you wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of either.

So then, the new Mercedes-AMG GLE 53. Like the rest of the GLE range, both the SUV and coupé SUV versions of the AMG 53 have seen a raft of revisions. That means the same full width, tri-display Superscreen infotainment as other models, and the reintroduction of physical buttons on the steering wheel. You can read about the rest of the revisions to the facelifted Mercedes GLE here.

But sports SUVs are all about speed and power, and here there are two revised versions of the current turbocharged six-cylinder, 3.0-litre petrol engine – both mated to a four-wheel drive system with recalibrated ESP settings – to choose from. In the red corner, there’s the GLE 53 4Matic+ which delivers 443bhp and 472lb ft of torque, up from 429bhp and 413lb ft – resulting in a 0-62mph time of 4.8sec, which slices 0.2sec off the current model’s time.

As before, it uses mild-hybrid assistance to save fuel and deliver a sharper response from the accelerator pedal. No official figures have been released, but it should be comparable with the current model in real world driving. For context, the current car’s official economy stands at 27.5mpg and 235g/km of CO2.

In the green corner sits the plug-in hybrid-powered 576bhp GLE 53 Hybrid, which pairs its petrol engine with a 181bhp electric motor – again figures which are both up on the current model. It’s slightly faster, too, with a 4.7sec 0-62mph time. No electric range figures have been revealed, but today’s car can manage up to 56 miles on a charge. As before it can use an 11kW home EV charger, or can accept up to 60kW from a public charger – do that, and it will charge from 10-80% in around 20 minutes, which is approximately nine minutes quicker than before.

All models are fitted with a retuned version of AMG Ride Control+ air suspension. We found the current car didn’t deal with potholes quite as well as we’d hoped, but AMG has widened the gap between comfort and sportiness, which should allow the driver to better balance their desire for a film, sporty ride and something that’s far more comfortable. 

The system leans on cloud-based connectivity, allowing so-equipped Mercedes models to share information about road surfaces – and hazards – to enable the car to deal with them.

The mild-hybrid ‘53 can be fitted with AMG Active Ride Control as an option, which can significantly reduce bodyroll when cornering hard.

While we’re yet to drive the GLE 53, the star of the show is the new Superscreen display which stretches the entire width of the dashboard, combining three displays behind and single glass panel. It’s backed by MB.OS – Mercedes’ latest operating system which is hooked up to a range of AI platforms and accepts over-the-air updates. But for the AMG 53 version, there’s a new AMG Performance steering wheel which sees fiddly touch-sensitive buttons replaced by physical rollers.

By comparison, the BMW X5 M60i offers performance more akin to the full-fat GLE 63, despite being priced closer to the 53, although the BMW lacks a proper performance-focused plug-in hybrid. The Audi SQ7 is more of a high-speed cruiser than a sports SUV, and comparable versions of the Porsche Cayenne might be cheaper but don’t exude quite the same luxurious wow factor.

Outside, there’s a new AMG-specific radiator grille and redesigned air intakes, alongside the same sort of high-tech lighting fitted to other GLE models.

The Mercedes-AMG GLE 53 is expected to go on sale at the end of 2026, and while prices are yet to be confirmed, it’s likely to cost from around £100,000 – a little more than today’s model.

Read more: Best sports SUVs

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