Mercedes-Benz have today confirmed the arrival time and pricing for the Mercedes-AMG A35 hatch and sedan in Australia. The A35 sits as the new entry point to the Mercedes-AMG range, between the A250 4MATIC and the recently announced Mercedes-AMG A45 in the A-Class range.
AMG A35 hatches are landing in Australia next month – September 2019 – with the sedans due a month later in October. The Mercedes-AMG A35 hatch will start at $67,200 (driveaway pricing not yet available) with the sedan body style commanding a $2,600 premium at $69,800 (driveaway pricing not yet available).
The Mercedes-AMG A35 will compete with the Audi S3 $64,200 ($70,611 driveaway), the Volkswagen Golf R ($54,990, $60,329 driveaway) and BMW’s recently-announced M135i xDrive (pricing not yet announced) in the growing executive hot-hatch segment.
The Mercedes-AMG A35 packs significantly more power than its A250 cousin, with 225kW/400Nm, 55kW and 50Nm more than the 165kW/350Nm A250. Power is transferred through a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox to Mercedes-Benz’s own 4MATIC all-wheel-drive system. The AMG A35 sprints from 0-100km/h in 4.7 seconds in both hatch and sedan form.
Combined fuel consumption for the AMG A35 hatch is claimed at 7.6L/100km, with the sedan usingly slightly less fuel at 7.4L/100km.
Five drive modes are available for the Mercedes-AMG A35 including sport plus, sport, comfort, a customisable individual mode and a slippery mode, which sounds much more ‘motorsport’ than eco mode.
All AMG A35s coming to Australia are equipped with three-stage adaptive dampers as standard. Mercedes-Benz are touting dynamic ESP settings for the AMG A35, but there’s no talk of the drift mode slated for its big-brother, the AMG A45 hyper hatch.
Mercedes-AMG claim to have increased front-end torsional rigidity of the AMG A35 over the regular A-Class models using an aluminium reinforcement plate improving handling and driver feedback.
The AMG A35 hatch is pictured here in the striking Sun Yellow hero colour, and the body kit plus larger 19-inch wheels makes it look significantly angrier than the A250 without the boy-racer aero addenda seen on the AMG A45. The Denim Blue paintwork on the Sedan is more understated.
Inside the Mercedes-AMG A35 has plenty of steering wheel buttons like the A250, though the AMG A35 adds two colour LCD controllers to the tiller – one for drive mode adjustment and one free to be programmed to your choice of function.
The AMG A35 is also equipped with dual 10.25-inch screens running the MBUX operating system – one for the driver and one centrally-mounted – voice control, Apple Carplay/Android Auto, electrically-adjustable heated leather seats, and dual-zone climate control. For the sedan, Mercedes-AMG includes ‘easy access’ to open the boot by swiping your foot under the car.
Mercedes-AMG will also offer a limited launch edition package on the A35 called AMG Edition 1, which includes “Tech Gold” exterior highlights, Denim Blue paintwork (pictured on the sedan), Black/Magma grey interior, AMG performance seats, AMG aero pack, and AMG 19-inch alloy wheels for an extra $6,990 on top of the AMG A35 price.
