Mercedes 190E Evo Restomods To Go Endurance Racing

German tuning house HWA plans on campaigning two Mercedes 190E Evo II restomods at the 2026 Nurburgring 24 Hours. It will be the ultimate test of the company’s work on the street-legal car. And in a way it’s incredibly appropriate.

Mercedes-AMG One burns in Germany.

After all, the Evo originally was a homologation model created primarily for motorsports, not rich guys trying to look cool while cruising around town. With the HWA Evo restomod undoubtedly costing an arm and a leg, it’s great to see the tuner prioritizing racing.

The first test was during this year’s Nurburgring 24 Hours as two cars did some laps during the competition. That was probably more about getting some baseline figures in a real race situation, helping HWA iron out details before taking on the grueling competition next year.

Built from the ground up using modern technology and materials, HWA’s car is supposed to follow the spirit of the Mercedes 190E Evo II even though it is a different machine.

The thought is customers get the best of both worlds: modern engineering and manufacturing techniques applied to a vehicle devoid of screens and other distracting factors. We actually respect that aim quite a bit.

Aesthetically, the HWA Evo hearkens to the original in staggering detail. Although you can tell the fit and finish is a step or five above the original. That’s inevitable, thanks to modern technological marvels applied to it in every stage of its creation.

Plus, the exposed carbon fiber weave is a dead giveaway this isn’t an original 190E Evo.

Production of the HWA Evo is limited to a mere 100 units. Unless you’re well connected and fabulously wealthy, you can forget about owning one. Plus, each unit is already spoken for, but we bet the secondary market is going to be ludicrous.

But a special track-focused variant of the HWA Evo is in the works and the endurance race is a key part of its development. There’s no word on how many of those will be produced, but we can’t imagine it would outstrip the total number of road cars.

Images via HWA