Could Mercedes’ A45 AMG ‘street fighter’ make it to the U.S. as a hardcore CLA or GLA?

By Stephen Edelstein November 25, 2014

AMG is the in-house speed shop that makes hotter versions of Mercedes-Benz cars and trucks, but when those factory hot rods aren’t enough, there’s also the hardcore Black Series models.

Mercedes is now reportedly working on a Black Series-style version of the Europe-only A45 AMG, which is closely related to the CLA45 AMG and GLA45 AMG sold in the U.S.

According to Auto Express, AMG really wants to build this hardcore A45, which be lighter than the standard model and would do away with some of the luxuries in pursuit of ultimate performance.

However, AMG doesn’t have the manpower to devote to it right now, so the project’s been placed in a queue. It may not go on sale until the end of the current A-Class’ life cycle, when it would help generate interest in an outgoing model just as Ford’s Focus RS iterations and AMG’s own SLS Black series have in the past.

And what a sendoff it will be.

AMG chief Tobias Moers has previously said that there’s more power to be gotten from the A45’s 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, which is already the world’s most powerful production four-banger with 355 horsepower.

Moers notes that the 395-hp Volkswagen Golf R 400 concept hasn’t escaped his attention.

However, the hardcore A45 may not carry the Black Series label, which so far has been used on two-door cars only. Moers views it as denoting a racing-focused model, and is considering a different approach that make the A45 into a “street fighter” more along the lines of other extreme hot hatchbacks.

Like the rest of the A-Class range, this model will never make it to the U.S., but slipping its hardware into the mechanically-identical CLA-Class “four-door coupe” and GLA-Class crossover wouldn’t be too hard.

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Stephen Edelstein

Contributing Editor

Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…

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