HWA AG teases first images of its £736k Mercedes 190E EVO II revival

German aftermarket performance and motorsport specialist, HWA AG, has released the first ‘official’ images of its impending Mercedes 190E EVO II restomod, following on from its first sketches.

Created in unison with automotive restoration firm, Curated, HWA has stated over 12,000 hours - or 500 consecutive days - of labour has gone into the final design, which looks… just like a Mercedes 190E EVO II. We jest, there are some notable changes.

Starting out front, the famous Silver Arrow logo has been ditched, and the grille it was attached to has now been darkened and seen a slight refresh in design. Similarly, the headlight covers have been given a shadowy hue, beneath which sits a revamped headlight cluster consisting of two individual sections per corner.

The splitter itself is a new, straighter design and loses the connecting wires which were a hallmark of the original, while the cooling vents have also been given a make-over to look slightly less cluttered. The cleaner look seems to be the general philosophy behind the HWA EVO, and continues at the rear. If we had to guess, we’d say a solid 6,000 of those 12,000 hours went into clicking ‘delete’ on Photoshop.

The original Merc badges have been dropped and replaced by HWA derivatives, while the tail lights now take on a much more modern (LED?) design which flows horizontally, as opposed to vertically on the original. The HWA EVO has also lost a few of the fissures and curved lines, making for a much more lineal approach all round and contributing heavily to that cleaner look.

Mechanically, HWA is remaining tight-lipped on exact powertrain figures but has stated its EVO will be “produced using state-of-the-art technology in terms of powertrain, performance, brakes, aerodynamics and safety”. Roughly translated, that means we should see a healthy increase over the original car’s 232bhp and 181lb ft of torque, drawn from its 2.5-litre inline-four. Another 9,000 hours of discussions should yield a set of definitive figures.

HWA says just 100 will be made, with each set to begin at an eye-watering €714,000 - £614k - each before VAT... which makes it just over £736k. Given just 100 of these cars will ever be built, coupled with the seemingly high demand for restomods of this nature at present, we think HWA will have no shortage of suitors. We certainly would… if money wasn’t an object.