New Mercedes-Benz AMG A35 sedan will spice up your daily drive

When Mercedes-Benz decided to serve up a tasty little four-door sedan it made sure to add salt, pepper - and some mustard.

The spicy addition to the range is the A35 4Matic and, not surprisingly, it comes from the chefs at AMG.

There have been baby AMG hotrods in the past, but this time Mercedes-AMG is making sure it has everyone covered with its new menu. Its objective is a lock-out on the Audi S3 and the smaller M-cars from BMW.

The A35 sedan should land in Australia at the same time as the A35 hatch, towards the end of 2019, and promises to do a 4.8-second sprint to 100km/h.

As yet, Mercedes-Benz Australia is not talking about prices or equipment, although something around $70,000 is likely.

“This is the first time we’ve got an A-Class sedan that is an AMG. In the past there was a 250 Sport, but not a full AMG,” the spokesman for Mercedes in Australia, Jerry Stamoulis, tells Australian Business Traveller. “Not everyone can afford a C43 or C63 sedan, so this will be a good alternative.”

It’s also shaping as an undercover road runner, without some of the obvious body bits of other AMG models. And it leaves space at the very top end for the expected introduction of an A45 – complete with turbocharged shotgun exhaust pyrotechnics - as Mercedes fills out the A-Class family.

“The A250 Sport has proven to be very popular, but customers are wanting that little more in power and dynamics," Stamoulis explains. "So there is a growing appetite for performance cars in the A-Class family.”

Mechanically, the A35 has a turbocharged 2.0-litre engine, a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and AMG tweaked all-wheel drive together with sports suspension and 18-inch alloys.

In Germany, the A35 is described as “an entry-level model” with appeal for younger buyers, and people who want the extra back-seat space that comes with a four-door sedan.

“Sport saloons are the origin of Mercedes-AMG and part of the brand's core. With our new A35, we are transporting this history into modern times,” says Tobias Moers, CEO of Mercedes-AMG.

Apart from the AMG mechanical package, the A35 comes with the breakthrough ‘Hey Mercedes’ voice-recognition system for the infotainment package, as well as the giant digital display screens, already seen in Australia in the A-Class hatch.

Something striking is a Supersport display mode that can show special AMG data including warm-up, set-up, G-force and engine performance.

Paul Gover

As Motoring Editor for Executive Traveller, Paul Gover spends less time at his Gold Coast home than he does on the road (literally) test-driving the best of the four-wheel world.