► Inspired by Merc 190E 2.5-16 Evo II
► We speak to the boss
► HWA says it’s limited to just 100 units
In 2025 there are two distinct flavours AMG; the ‘official’ electric type showcased in the new AMG GT XX concept, and then this – the brawny HWA EVO. Crafted to harness AMG’s golden era in a modern performant shell, it’s the ultimate modern classic. Just 100 will be made and next year it’ll also race in the hugely demanding N24h race. But before all that, we spoke to CTO Gordian von Schoening about the project.
‘We were looking for something that combines our legacy, but also our racing history,’ CTO Gordian von Schoening tells me ahead of this year’s N24 race. We’re talking in 30-degree heat on HWA’s huge stand at the Nürburgring, surrounded by two new EVO cars, as well as an example of the rare Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 Evo II DTM racer on which they’re based. But HWA nearly didn’t go for the classic 190E at all.
After picking the modern classic era, HWA picked the 190E as it was the base for creating something that looked like the EVO II which it formed a platform for – but was far easier and cheaper to get a hold of. ‘There’s only 500 EVO IIs built in the EU for the homologation of the DTM, but 1.6 million 190Es were built over the car’s lifecycle,’ he tells me.
A check on eBay will show a good 190E going for far less than the half a million Euros an original EVO II costs; and for just an extra €700,000-ish HWA will turn it into something, ‘a little bit more aggressive, a little bit more powerful, but that can drive really good.’
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‘The idea was to keep it very original,’ says von Schoening – and that’s exactly what’s happened. Look at the HWA EVO in isolation and it looks almost exactly like the 190E EVO II it’s inspired by – but look at the two cars side by side and it’s quite different.
‘We didn’t’ want to build something new, because the headlights are a face, especially if you have day running lights,’ he says. ‘We just wanted to keep it like it is, and that’s why we ended up as we see it today.’ I’m told the plan was to recreate the EVO as your memory imagined it, and that meant a wider track, bigger aero and cleaner lines than the original car had.
HWA has been less sympathetic underneath: Each EVO starts with a W201 chassis, inspected by HWA engineers – but after that things take a turn. The front and rear portions of the original steel chassis are removed, replaced with HWA-designed high-strength steel and aluminium subframes for improved rigidity.
‘The middle piece is a steel chassis, the platform is completely new,’ he tells me. ‘It’s an integrated roll cage, and we have just put a kind of a hat on top of it’
At the front and rear cast-aluminium components are joined to the middle, and HWA bits are then clamped on. ‘We bolt on our engine frame and the gearbox frame in the back.’
The A, B and C pillars have also been strengthened. Altogether 75 per cent of the car is replaced, resulting in double the torsional stiffness. After all the modifications the EVO has similar stiffness to a modern supercar.
The drivetrain sees the most change, with HWA’s engineers looking to improve weight distribution throughout. The original car’s four- or six-cylinder engine is gone, replaced with a V6 twin-turbo from a C43, along with the prop shaft. ‘We have an engine in the front, but it’s actually moved as backward as possible behind the front axle,’ von Schoening explains, adding that the front-axle has been moved forward 50mm. A V8 was also trialled, but its increased size meant it was impossible to achieve the desired weight distribution.
‘We have a dry sump system, and a prop shaft that this is running engine speed. We have in the back a gearbox that includes the alternator, the compressor for the air condition, steering pump, and the starter and the clutch.’ The result is a car that achieves 45:55 weight distribution.
The brakes are Brembo steels or ceramics (customers decide) and KW dampers are also used – electric or manually adjustable depending on which configuration customers go for. Finally, H&R roll bars are thrown in.
In order to further tap into its racing heritage, the Evo will race the ‘Ring next year, but its racing heritage mean there’ll be very little changes.
‘We’re going to have a paddle shift system,’ von Schoening tells me. We will have all the safety systems, like a fire distinguisher, completely installed. These are mandatory things to raise here, FIA roll cage, etc.’
HWA is a German engineering and racing-specialist firm with deep ties to AMG and the motorsport wing of Mercedes-Benz.
The company name is an initialism of its founder, Hans-Werner Aufrecht, who started HWA in Affalterbach, Germany, as a managing team for Mercedes’ motorsport interests in 1999.
Affalterbach has been the hometown of engine specialists AMG since 1976, a company also founded by Aufrecht in 1967.
Curtis Moldrich is CAR magazine’s Digital Editor and has worked for the brand for the past five years. He’s responsible for online strategy, including CAR’s website, social media channels such as X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, and helps on wider platform strategy as CAR magazine branches out on to Apple News+ and more.
By Curtis Moldrich
CAR's Digital Editor, F1 and sim-racing enthusiast. Partial to clever tech and sports bikes
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