New Mercedes A45 AMG to get a little brother – the A35 AMG

The next generation Mercedes A-Class is expected to debut in 2018 with a new more powerful A45 AMG. But there will also be an A35 AMG too.

The current Mercedes A-Class changed the way the world looks at Mercedes smallest model, turning it from an ‘er indoors special to a properly competitive premium hatchback.

Crowning that premium hatchback range is the mightily able A45 AMG, and it’s set to return when the new Mercedes A-Class debuts in 2018, probably at the Geneva Motor Show, with looks inspired by the recent Mercedes Concept A Saloon.

This time round the A45 AMG is expected to come with north of 400bhp – enough to top the Audi RS 3 – but that will leave quite a performance gap to be filled below in the A-Class range.

There have long been rumours that Mercedes would pop in an ‘A45 Light’ to take the fight to cars like the VW Golf R and Honda Civic Type R and now, in conversation with Top Gear, that’s been confirmed.

Tobias Moers, AMG boss, has told TG that there will indeed be a new AMG model in the A-Class range – the A35 AMG – which he called the A45’s little brother, at a much more affordable price point and sporting a de-tuned version of the A45’s 2.0 litre four-pot turbo.

It seems likely the A35 will deliver something around 325bhp to make sure it has the edge on cars like the Golf and Civic, and you can probably expect it to cost somewhere around £35k.

But then, with the range-topping 45 AMg expected to cost up to £50k, the A35 will perhaps be something of a bargain premium performance hatchback.