Bruce Newton•29 Jun 2015
NEWS
AMG declares hot-hatch power war!
Mercedes-AMG raises the stakes to top Audi as BMW M2 loomsUpdate, June 29: This is a revised version of a story published earlier today clarifying that the A 45 hatch is powered by a four-cylinder engine, the Audi RS 3 hatch by a five-cylinder and next year’s BMW M2 coupe by a six-cylinder.
Mercedes-Benz hot-shop AMG has declared itself willing and able to contest a small car power war if any of its rivals feel like challenging the position of the A 45.
Unveiled in updated form at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the refettled 2.0-litre petrol-turbo four-cylinder hot hatch re-establishes its positon atop the power war charts with output upped 15kW to 280kW.
That trumps the Audi RS 3 Sportback, which puts out 270kW from its five-cylinder engine and briefly took the mantle of most powerful hot hatch from the pre-facelift A 45.
And the word is an even more powerful A45 S is on the way with a peak output of 294kW. Maybe that’s designed to ward off next year’s six-cylinder BMW M2 coupe?
“It’s another segment in which there is competition,” Mercedes-AMG head of marketing Wolfgang Ungerer told motoring.com.au.
“But that is OK, we are ready for it.
“We are totally confident that this car is going to score big.”
Mercedes-AMG and its German rivals Audi RS and BMW M have staged horsepower wars for years in various different drivetrain categories, mostly centred on V8s and sixes.
But the small car power war is a relatively new battleground that has really emerged with the launch of the A 45 and its significant success.
“A 45 has been a game changer for us,” confirmed Ungerer. “We have a very powerful engine in an entry segment, plus if you understand what A-Class means for Mercedes as a brand overall, then it was really part of rejuvenating the brand and making it more accessible and making it cool again among young people and the A 45 was always the cherry on the cake.
“And to make sure we keep that strong position and we keep it vibrant, is important for Mercedes as a whole but important for us as well.”
The updated A 45 also features an extra 25Nm, boosting it to 475Nm, while the all-wheel drive’s dual-clutch transmission has new ratios, revised software and quicker shift time to help it carve nearly 0.5 sec from its 0-100kmh time, resetting it at a gob-smacking 4.2 seconds.
But there has also been attention paid to dynamics, with revised aerodynamics for improved cornering, a class-first mechanical differential lock and adaptive dampers that provide comfort and sports settings that swing the stiffness either side of the standard setting.
“We have just driven this car on the track and it’s mind blowing what you can get out of a small vehicle like that,” Ungerer claimed.
“It is really fun, but it’s authentic. It’s not just made to look like a cool car it actually drives like a very sporty car.”
Ungerer deflected questions about the car’s power level, instead emphasising that was part of a combination of assets AMG cars needed to be successful.
“Most powerful, most agile, best performing ... it’s important to emphasise it’s more than just the power.
“Design and sound and performance we need to have for a convincing product offering,” he added. “However it’s not just power moving forward, it’s dynamics, which is why we are putting a lot of effort into dynamics engineering.
“That means we have completely different components to the series cars, in order to have full agility, precision of steering and cornering and lateral dynamics.”
Tags
Mercedes-Benz
A-Class
Car News
Performance Cars
Prestige Cars
Hot Hatch
Written byBruce Newton
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