2017 Mercedes-AMG A45 spied with fat guards, wider track: S or Black Series coming?

A prototype, which could be a hotter version of the Mercedes-AMG A45, has been spied outside the Nurburgring in Germany.

This slightly mysterious development vehicle features a wider track, and bulging front and rear to go along with the increased width.

The car rides on rubber band-like tyres and large alloy wheels. Up front, stopping power comes courtesy of large drilled brakes with similarly massive callipers. The units at the rear seem almost puny in comparison, although these could swapped for something more impressive later into the development cycle.

Cabling running from under the bonnet to inside the vehicle suggests that the engineers inside the car could monitoring the status of an uprated engine.

Currently, the A45 hatch, as well as the GLA45 SUV and CLA45 sedan, are powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder with 265kW of power and 450Nm of torque.

In those cars all that fury is sent to all four wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. While the power and torque outputs will almost certainly increase if this hotter version goes into production, expect the fundamentals of the drivetrain to remain the same.

It’s unlikely that this vehicle is a mule for the next-generation A-Class as we’ve already seen spy photos of the new hatch with a heavily disguised version of the production body.

With the current A-Class due for replacement by 2018, this hotter AMG A45 could the company’s tyre-frying send off for the third-generation hatch.

Should this amped up A45 go into production, it’s unknown what its name will be. It might be branded as the AMG 45 S, while some have suggested that it could be known as the A45 Black Series, but so far that name has been reserved for two-door models.

We’ll just have to wait and see.

MORE: Spy photos of the mystery Mercedes-AMG A45 hatch
MORE: Mercedes-Benz A-Class news and reviews

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