Mercedes is working on an all-new A45 AMG model to sit at the top of its A-Class lineup, and even though it’s set to debut sometime next year, we’re already learning new details about it - exciting details regarding how it will be very different from (and just plain better than) the outgoing A45 AMG.

The Full Story

The A45 will be quite different compared to the A35 model, which has already been revealed.

CarAdvice from Australia spoke to the chairman of the management board of Mercedes-AMG, Tobias Moers, at the Paris Motor Show and discovered that it will have over 400 horsepower and that it will even have a drift mode, just like the Ford Focus RS.

The all-wheel-drive system will be significantly different to the one in the A35, which can only send up to 50 percent of power to the rear wheels when needed. In the next A45, it will be able to send much more than that to the rear and allow for some proper tail-out fun.

Moers confirmed that it will go sideways and added that “the chassis compared to today... it's unbelievable. We have various suspension in the car and it's an improvement in every perspective. There's more comfort, more rigidity in every way, so we put a lot of effort into the body in white. There's lots of reinforcement and it fits perfectly."

He promised that the experience of driving an A45 will be “much more emotional” than it is currently and also a lot more capable. And it needs to be as BMW’s next M140i will also have around 400 horsepower, all-wheel-drive, and will be a serious challenger in the segment, going after the likes of Audi’s seriously fast RS3.

Further Reading

Read our speculative review on the 2019 Mercedes-AMG A45.

Read our full review on the 2019 Mercedes-AMG A35.

Read our full review on the 2017 BMW M140i.