Where will the Giant Evil Hot Hatch Death Ray strike next? It’s already blasted the Ford Fiesta and Focus ST to smithereens, blown up the Hyundai i20N and i30N, and vapourized the Skoda Fabia vRS, Seat Ibiza Cupra, Peugeot 208 GTI, Renault Clio and Megane RS, Vauxhall Corsa and Astra VXR, Audi S1, Suzuki Swift Sport… yeah, you get the idea.
Hot hatches are dying out. And even the most powerful one ever made can’t escape.
Yes, Mercedes’ chief tech officer Markus Schafer has admitted the company is not working on a replacement for the current A-Class. You can guess the reasons why: not profitable enough, mainly bought in Europe, SUVs make more money and sell worldwide. You guessed all that, right?
That means there’ll be no hatchback twin for the tech-infested new CLA, which arrived in your brains last week offering hybrid drive and full-EV versions.
And that, logic fans, means there will be no new A35 or A45 AMG. The Mercedes hot hatch era is over. Well, it soldiers on until 2026 with the current crop, but then it’s game over.
How will history remember the A45? Probably as a quite mad engine in a not-quite-deserving chassis. The first version from 2013 arrived on the hot hatch scene like a hypersonic missile at the Battle of Hastings. Somehow, AMG’s mad boffins had squeezed 355hp from two liters, four cylinders, and a turbocharger that had a warranty measured in years, not tenths of a second.
Then it was facelifted. And got more power. Then it was replaced. More power again. The range-topping A45 S introduced drift-mode thanks to clever rear axle clutch packs, and pushed outputs to almost 420hp. A Mercedes shopping car with more power than a Ferrari 360? Truly bananas.
No A45 ever had the most delicate handling in the herd: true hot hatch perfectionists preferred the racecar reflexes of the Honda Civic Type R. But if you desired the most outrageous four-cylinder engine ever to inhabit a road car (with the possible exception of some of the madder Mitsubishi Evos), then Mercedes was taking your money.
The engine will live on, of course: Lotus employs it in the Emira, it reaches even greater feats of ‘are you sure?’ lunacy in the bizarre C63 hybrid, and Mercedes insiders tell TopGear.com plans are afoot for an AMG version of the pebble-smooth new CLA.
But that appears to be the end of the traditional Mercedes A-Class hatchback story. From tall-riding elk-fearing sandwich-floored weirdo to conventional Golf rival, via the most powerful hot hatch of all time, it’s been an odd little cul-de-sac in the Benz history books.
Will you miss the A-Class? And should AMG see it off in stripped-out style, with an A45 Black Series?
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
