Horsepower alone no longer going to cut it in the hot hatch segment as even Mercedes-AMG has teased some of the tricks they’ve taught their next-generation Mercedes-AMG A 45 which is set for debut soon.
In a Christmas special video, AMG let loose a heavily camouflaged W177 A-Class onto the circuit and tell-tale signs such as the Dynamic Select rotary knob on the steering wheel, quad-exhaust design and the fact that it’s sliding around corners (we’re jumping the gun to call it Drift Mode) points towards the range-topping A 45 variant and not the A 35 which was recently introduced.
Drift Mode was first featured in the E 63 S 4MATIC+ that when engaged, sends all the power solely to the rear wheels and sets up the traction control to allow mega sideways action. The A 45’s rival, the Ford Focus RS also comes with Drift Mode but that only adjusts the torque split to allow the car to slide. We can expect that the A 45 will get a system more similar to the Focus RS.
While the A 35 uses a tuned-up version of the M260 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol that serves up 306 hp and 400 Nm of twist, we can expect that the A 45 will feature a hand-built M133 2.0-litre turbocharged four-pot just like in the outgoing model. Here’s hoping the A 45 will breach the 400 hp mark.
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New Mercedes-AMG A 45 Teaser
