HWA EVO Chassis #001: The First Customer Car Meets Its 190E Evo II Namesake

© HWA

The first customer HWA EVO, chassis #001, has been delivered to its owner and now stands right next to the original Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 Evolution II carrying the same serial number. Both cars have joined the collection of Prof. Dr. Friedhelm Loh and, from 23 July, are on display at Germany’s Nationales Automuseum. The last production Evo II, chassis #500, is also part of the exhibit.

HWA’s official base price runs higher — €714,000 before local taxes. The company plans to build 100 road cars in total. A separate chassis, #000, sold at auction in 2024 for €1.31 million.

Calling the EVO a simple restomod isn’t quite accurate. Every build starts from a Mercedes W201 body, yet HWA replaces roughly 75% of the original structure. The front and rear ends are removed and rebuilt with new aluminum and high-strength steel subframes, while the outer panels are made from carbon fiber. Claimed weight is 1,360 kg, and torsional stiffness is more than double that of the standard W201.

The twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 makes 450 hp and 550 Nm, and the Affalterbach package lifts output to 500 hp. Top speed climbs from 270 to 300 km/h. The engine sits behind the front axle, the six-speed manual gearbox is mounted at the rear in a transaxle layout, drive stays rear-wheel, and weight distribution is close to 50:50.

At the museum, the new EVO shares space with the PT01 test prototype, the racing EVO.R, and Klaus Ludwig’s championship-winning Mercedes from the 1992 DTM season.

The value of chassis #001 now goes beyond its specs. One collection now holds the first modern HWA interpretation, the first original Evo II, and the car with the final number of the main production run — a combination that’s essentially impossible for another owner to match.