It’s been a while since Mercedes-Benz built the sort of cars that it built its reputation on. It hasn’t been for the lack of trying, or at least for the lack of brightly shining stars everywhere on the vehicle. The interiors consist of swoopy shapes and screens, where there used to be real wood and an air of impenetrable solidity. It’s no wonder HWA, the modern-day equivalent of the original AMG outfit, went back to the 190E to find inspiration.
Mercedes-Benz released the hot, sporting version of its new small W201 sedan, the 190E 2.3-16, in 1983. The 2.3-16, complete with a Cosworth-engineered 16-valve head, was displayed at the Frankfurt Motor Show to widespread approval.
We’re talking about an ‘80s sports sedan classic, one that was soon challenged by the BMW E30 M3, which also had a hot four-cylinder, 16-valve engine. Competition versions of these cars soon went head to head in German touring car racing, in the DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft) championship.
The footage from the era is fantastic, with wide-bodied, luridly liveried Mercs and Bimmers fighting it out on tracks such as the vaunted Nürburgring, among other racing sedans such as Alfa Romeos and Ford Sierras. Nearly everybody had a moustache and a mullet. Nearly everyone smoked. In the background, this was one of the ways for Mercedes-Benz to return to circuit racing after the 1955 Le Mans disaster, with teams such as AMG running 190Es.
By the end of the ‘80s, these two cars had taken development steps to something wider, something more aggressive, something with bigger spoilers and wings. The BMW M3 had spawned Evolution models (isn’t that one of the greatest model specifications of the era? Think Lancia, think Mitsubishi), and Daimler-Benz answered with the 190E 2.5-16 Evolution.
In 1990, the Evolution II arrived, resembling something of a Mercedes-Benz 190E Batmobile. The even more aggressive body kit was something to behold, with immense wheelarch extensions and a rear wing that was as tall as a bookshelf.
Just 502 units of both Evolution versions, the I and II, were made, and all but a handful were metallic black. Both were available with an AMG-engineered PowerPack specification that raised maximum horsepower to 225 and 235 horsepower, respectively, utilizing tuning such as hot cams and improved intake and exhaust systems.
The W201 had traveled far from its innocuous guise in 1982, even compared to the relatively stealth 190E 2.3-16 of 1983.
We can now fast forward to present day. HWA Team, a racing development outfit in Affalterbach, Germany, builds re-interpretations of Mercedes-Benz 2.3-16 and 2.5-16 cars, designed to resemble but also outperform the Evolution versions. The name of the company comes from the founder’s initials – Hans-Werner Aufrecht, the original founder of the famous AMG company that helped make the Evolution cars as hot as they were, as well as racing them in the first place.
HWA was born in 1999 as a result of AMG being taken over by DaimlerChrysler: the motor racing and customizing parts of AMG were reborn as HWA. It’s the winningest team in DTM. It also built road-going versions of the Mercedes CLK-GTR supercar, the best and strangest looking CLK there ever was. These are some pretty strong credentials for reworking the 190E.
HWA takes well-used, but not completely ruined W201 models – even base model cars are fine for the purpose – and strips them out to a chemically treated bare shell, effectively creating a blank, 190E-shaped canvas for the HWA EVO to be built on.
To be precise, HWA has developed a new chassis platform for the EVO, only using W201 bodies. But floors, subframes, and everything beyond the body is custom and engineered for the purpose. These aren’t mere synthwave restomods of the 2.3-16, but effectively new cars with a front-mid-engine layout and HWA VINs. And since they’re new cars, they’ve also been crash tested. 100 customer cars will be built, with prices of complete vehicles exceeding $800,000.
The engine isn’t the Cosworth 16-valve anymore, but a twin-turbo M276 V6 good for 500 horsepower. Rebuilding the already potent engines, the company utilizes just the block and the heads, with the pistons, connecting rods, and turbos all custom. The gearbox is the same six-speed manual as in the Audi R8. The new headlights look mean.
All this time, all through this development, the HWA EVO has been all about slouching to the Nürburgring to be born. Since this isn’t just bolting carbon stuff, numbered plaques and digital gauges to an ‘80s car, but completely re-engineering it in a racing-inspired context, using the best know-how in the business of making fast Mercedes-Benzes, these cars have to race at the Green Hell.
One of them was already demonstrated at the Nürburgring 24 Hours last year, but this time they’re going all in, in the “SP-X” class for special vehicles.
Initially, there were supposed to be two HWA EVO.Rs (R for Racing) at the 2026 event, but the total tally is now three. And if the car is effectively the son of those DTM racing versions of the 1980s, so will its drivers. Sebastian Asch and Luca Ludwig will take the wheel among others; their fathers, Roland Asch and Klaus Ludwig, are well known for racing the classic 190E Evolutions in the touring car championship.
Another driver is Markus Winkelhock, son of Manfred Winkelhock, the late Formula One driver from the ‘80s. Markus Winkelhock is a three-time winner of the Nürburgring 24 Hours. The endurance race takes place in mid-May, from the 14th to the 17th.
Is this the best Mercedes-Benz 190E there is? It is certainly one of the most powerful, the Evolution look taken to the ultimate. Compare it to other re-interpretations that might only make it to the show circuit, from one display to another, and it’s absolutely, completely justified that these go as hard as they do.
These things pay homage to some of the most iconic 1980s cars there ever were, and alongside them, the original ones look perfect. There are few sports sedans of the era that could be imagined to receive this sort of treatment, and make use of it.
Photos: HWA AG unless otherwise credited
Not DTM, but I stumbled across this video on YouTube the other day. Back before M-B lost it its way. The Alan Parsons Project soundtrack seems perfect for the footage.
Please, in future headlines use Mercedes Benz of M-B when referring to the brand, as opposed to just Mercedes as it is confusing at the least. This headline struck a bit of panic in my heart as I thought something had happened to Mercedes.
And now I noticed it does say Mercedes Benz in the headline. Sorry. Don’t get old, everything malfunctions, worse than rust and corrosion in a 15 year old car in New England.
That happens to me a lot.
What’s hot cams?
… Is my relationship in trouble just because I asked
Fun fact about Markus Winkelhock – He’s the only driver in F1 history to lead every race he’s participated in.
Mostly because he drove one race, for Spyker in 2007, where everyone but him pitted early for wet tires and he was left hanging out.
Jason Cammisa at Hagerty made a fantastic video on the Evolution series homologation cars. Worth looking up on YouTube if you haven’t seen.
Lexus has been living rent free in Mercedes’ head since the first LS came out – things have never quite been the same since.
Those new EVO’s look fantastic. I wouldn’t argue with real analogue gauges and just a little color in the interior, but there are way worse ways to spend $800,000.
Reads the headline.
Yes, and also Yes.
Indeed, but, I was hoping this was going to be some big news about Mercedes-Benz having a change of heart. Perhaps that was me being overly optimistic, but I kinda feel like I’ve been had.
This is awesome! Retro nu-wave car, or something like that. Wonder what the BMW project like this would be like, but I feel like the M3 has stuck to its roots better than anything Mercedes. I’m probably biased, though. I was one of the “few?” that actually liked the C63. Watching one startup then rev up in a parking garage for the first time was hilariously good to hear that from such a small car.
Cool. Now can we get Ford’s SVT or Saleen or Rausch to do something similar with old Merkur XR4tis? I’d be happy with a warmed over version of the Mustang’s ecoboost-4 as the modern powerplant.
Ford SVT is too owned by corporate, Saleen is so broke they are accepting private investors for as little as $500; Roush is making too much money converting F150s and School buses to run on Propane.
Since the XR4Ti was a European Sierra, I would look to Autosportif in England to take on this job.
The problem is that Merkurs are fairly cheap here when you can find them. A similarly spec’ed Sierra in the UK is about 3-4 times more expensive. The Brits know what they got.
I guess Autosportif could buy the American Merkurs and ship them back.
Alas – Mercedes once built wheeled bank vaults, tastefully trimmed in real wood, leather and metal. Quality, not ostentation. That ended sometime in the ’90s.
As much as I will always adore the old W163 MLs, I genuinely believe that they were the beginning of the end for that entire era of Mercedes-Benz.
I think the W124/E Class models were the last real Benzes. The W201/2 C Class models are also pretty decent IMO, though not quite as substantial/old-school as the 124s. I bought a new ’98 CLK 320 and while it felt great when it ran, it was hideously unreliable during the year that I owned it.
The W123 cars are usually considered peak Mercedes, though they’ve really gone up in price over the past decade, so a W124 seems like a more sane purchase (to me): https://bringatrailer.com/mercedes-benz/w124/ …they’re still almost affordable.
The shopping kills me, but if I could find a decent W124 diesel wagon, I’d probably just sell both of my Volvos and just daily the Benz.
I’ll still stand by the overall decency of the w210s, w211s, x204s and w204s, but the sense of solidity and interior quality was nowhere near the w124s.
Even the w212s were pretty good, but the fact that a rear main seal or a timing gear were considered a routine service item by then was BS.
I think about all this way too much I expect. 😉 I.e.: I happen to be aware that Mercedes ‘6.9’ luxo-sedan used Citroën suspension technology/components. I agree with your ‘overall decency’ opinion Gurp. I made the mistake of skimming sale prices for W124s on BaT recently, and to my dismay, they’re actually not priced out of the realm of reason yet (which likely means that they will be in a year or three). I dunno if I’ve got the emotional bandwidth to do the research necessary to ID specific versions/years/options/etc… to seek or avoid. I kinda want the diesel wagon most of all, but don’t know much about them yet.
Oh, a W124 with an OM606 turbodiesel 5-pot motor would be rad. I’d helped a guy swam an older OM617 into a 40-series Land Cruiser, and it was rad, but the OM606 with the power curve offered by EFI would be really fun.
more cars in the N24 are always good. I miss when the SCG-003C was in it and hope SCG comes back sometime (yes I know the 003 hasn’t raced for years, but the 004 wasn’t as pretty in my opinion).
Sidenote: have they entered any races since 2023?
Why the umlaut ä? Bahn doesn’t use one.
Makes my brain read it as Baehnstorm (closer to bean-storm)
As that price, 100 Saudi royal family members will be very happy to add these to their warehouses
This is probably the only car I would spend $800k I don’t have on. Perfect interior, 500 HP, manual sedan.
I understand the appeal of the Singer and the like, but this is sooo much cooler.
That interior in nigh on perfect! Clean, simple, attractive, and not distracting.
100% agree!