Launched in 1990, the Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 Evo II was a classic homologation special. The racing version locked horns with the E30 BMW M3 and Audi V8 in the German touring car championship (DTM), finally winning the title in 1992. And the road-going Evo II remains one of the wildest cars ever to wear the three-pointed star.

Now the Evo II is back, ‘evolved’ by HWA into a ‘road-legal, track-ready supercar‘ with carbon fibre bodywork, DTM-derived suspension and twice the power of the Stuttgart original.

Just don’t use the ‘R’ word… “This is not a restomod, it’s a completely new car,” says chief engineer Gordian von Schöning. We travelled to HWA headquarters in Affalterbach, southern Germany – also home to Mercedes-AMG – for an in-depth preview.

Born in Affalterbach

HWA’s close proximity to AMG is no coincidence. Company founder Hans Werner Aufrecht (note the initials) was also the ‘A’ in AMG, having established the now-legendary tuning firm in 1967. When DaimlerChrysler acquired AMG in 1998, Aufrecht started afresh – literally across the road on Benzstrasse – with HWA.

Now in its 26th year, HWA’s primary focus has always been motorsport. It has won 11 DTM championships with Mercedes-Benz, and supplies engines and electric powertrains for Formula 3 and Formula E. It also hand-builds around 120 AMG GT-based race cars each year, including the Track Series, GT4 and GT3. 

On the road-going side, joint projects with AMG have included the extreme CLK-GTR ‘Strassenversion’, CLK DTM and SL 65 Black Series. HWA also assembled the Apollo IE hypercar and recently started building the De Tomaso P72. Yet it has never launched a car under its own banner – until now.

Making ’emotional engines’

Before we come face-to-face with the new Evo, CEO Martin Marx – who began his career as a race engineer for Bernd Schneider – takes us for a guided tour. Brightening up the reception is an HWA-built Aston Martin Vantage DTM, which competed for one season in 2019, along with an enormous trophy cabinet. It soon becomes apparent that there are motorsport trophies everywhere. They even serve as door-stops in the offices upstairs.

We start in the engine workshop, where Marx shows me the 850hp, 9,000rpm V12 that HWA developed for the Pagani Huayra R. “Horacio Pagani told us he wanted an emotional engine and we delivered,” he says with a smile.

Heading across to the design studio, we see classic Mercedes-Benz paint colours such as Silver Thistle and Sunset Orange being remixed and enhanced for the Evo. Then it’s down to the dyno rooms, where road and racing components are tested to destruction. “Our transient powertrain dyno is the only one in Germany,” Marx explains. “It can simulate hard-driven laps of any racetrack in the world: acceleration, braking and cornering forces – even bumping over the kerbs.”

Our tour concludes in the production facility, where race-ready versions of the AMG GT are built up from bare shells. The Evo will also be assembled here – at a rate of one car per week – from early 2025. Max says 71 of the 100 cars planned are already accounted for.

The evolution of Evo

With a price tag of €714,000 (approx. £730,000), that is some sales feat. However, Gordian von Schöning says the “depth of engineering is on another level to any competitor, even a certain company from California”. That’s Singer Vehicle Design, in case you failed to read between the lines…

Indeed, the steel chassis centre section is the only major part retained from the donor Mercedes-Benz 190E. After being reinforced, it is bookended by lightweight aluminium subframes, then clothed in structural carbon fibre panels. The car’s wheelbase is stretched by 80mm and track width grows by around 300mm.

The 1990 Evo II was powered by a 235hp 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine. The 2024 Evo raises the stakes somewhat, with a 450hp 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged V6 loosely related to that found in a Mercedes-AMG E 53. Opt for the Affalterbach power pack and output rises to 500hp – good for a top speed of 185mph.

Sensibly, the Evo’s brakes have been upgraded to match, with six-piston front calipers and the option of carbon-ceramic discs. Suspension is by double wishbones all-round, bolstered by KW dampers and billet-machined wheel carriers.

A homologation hero

Finally, we enter a small workshop and Marx pulls the wraps off the first Evo ‘concept demonstrator’. Parked alongside a classic 190E Evo II, the differences between the two cars are immediately apparent. In isolation, the Stuttgart original looks imposing and aggressive. In this company, it seems undernourished, perhaps even a little underwhelming.

HWA designer Edgar Chu walks us around the car, pointing out details such as the minimalist grille and one-piece LED headlight/indicator units. However, the superb stance is what hits hardest. Enlarged alloy wheels – 19 inches at the front, 20s at the rear – fill out cartoonishly swollen arches, with a hydraulic nose-lift fitted to protect that vulnerable front splitter.

As these photos reveal, customers can choose between ‘OEM+’ six-spoke or racing-style aero rims. We’ll go for the latter, please – preferably with a period DTM livery to match.

Later over coffee, Chu compares the Evo to one of his previous projects: the 2018 Mercedes-Benz G-Class. “When you recreate an icon such as the G-Wagen or 190E Evo II, you can’t change too much,” he explains. “It’s important to retain the essence of the original.”

What’s next for the HWA Evo?

The major part of the HWA Evo we haven’t seen yet – hidden here behind blacked-out glass – is the interior. It will only be offered in left-hand drive (although that never hindered the E30 M3) and Chu says to expect a “classic 190E dashboard with configurable digital dials”. The manual gearlever will be illuminated with each car’s individual build number, too.

A manual gearbox? Oh yes. For all its added performance and motorsport breeding, the Evo should offer a defiantly analogue experience.

We will find out how this “road-legal, track-ready supercar.” drives later this year. Perfect 50:50 weight distribution and a kerb figure of 1,360kg (almost identical to the Evo II) certainly whet our appetite, but there’s no doubt the Evo delivers on HWA’s slogan: ‘Engineering Speed’.

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