Fifteen. That’s how many people on earth will get to own HWA’s new EVO R, a track-only customer car built on the bones of the company’s EVO.R racer and draped in the unmistakable silhouette of the 1990 Mercedes-Benz 190E Evo II. The announcement dropped this week at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, where the race version is competing, and the timing was no accident.
The EVO R is not a restomod you park at Cars & Coffee. It has removable rear doors, polycarbonate windows, an FIA-homologated roll cage, and a fuel cell. The interior is stripped to its essentials: a single carbon fiber racing seat, a racing steering wheel, chunky switchgear, and not much else.
If you want air conditioning, that’s extra. A front passenger seat? Also optional. A hydration drink system for endurance stints? On the list. This is a car that knows exactly what it is.
Under the carbon fiber widebody skin sits a reinforced monocoque chassis and a six-way adjustable racing suspension co-developed with KW and H&R. AP Racing competition brakes handle the stopping. The engine is a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 making 552 horsepower and 494 lb-ft of torque, fed through a six-speed sequential gearbox.
That’s a meaningful bump over the road-going HWA EVO, which makes 493 hp and 405 lb-ft with its optional Affalterbach package.
HWA claims the car is “accessible to drivers of all experience levels,” which is the kind of thing engineers always say about machines with integrated air jack systems and sequential transmissions. Take it with a grain of salt, but the company does have decades of motorsport pedigree running Mercedes hardware at the highest levels. If anyone can tune a track car to be forgiving at seven-tenths, it’s them.
The exterior treatment is pure function dressed up as aggression. Extended carbon fiber wheel arches accommodate wider Ronal racing wheels. NACA ducts feed air where it needs to go. A revised hood and racing exhaust complete the picture of a car that won’t be confused with the gentleman’s sedan it references.
Each of the 15 units will be built to order, and HWA is backing owners with what it calls a turn-key ownership program. That means dedicated technicians, a parts pipeline, and invitations to exclusive track events. It’s the kind of white-glove support that ultra-low-volume track car builders have to offer when the clientele is spending this kind of money.
And the money is significant. HWA hasn’t disclosed EVO R pricing, but the road-going EVO starts at roughly €714,000, which translates to about $830,000. A stripped, caged, sequential-equipped track version with racing suspension and brakes won’t cost less. North of a million dollars is a safe bet.
The 190E Evo II remains one of the most revered homologation specials Mercedes ever produced. HWA’s gamble is that the name still carries enough voltage to justify a seven-figure track toy in a market already crowded with them, from Singer’s ACS to Prodrive’s P25 to Kimera’s EVO37. The difference is that HWA isn’t just borrowing heritage — it built the original DTM cars. That lineage is either worth the price of admission or it isn’t, and fifteen buyers will get to decide.
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