An Italian tuner just built a 765 hp carbon 190E, and it has HWA in its sights
The 190E Evo restomod war just got a second front
The Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evolution II is one of the great touring-car heroes, and it is having a serious moment. HWA, founded by the man whose initials sit in AMG, has been reviving it as the EVO. Now an Italian outfit called Vespera has arrived with its own take, the Iride Evo 5, and it has turned everything up: 765 hp, a full carbon body and a manual gearbox.
What it is
The Iride Evo 5 comes from Vespera Automobili, a new Italian firm, and it is a hand-built restomod of the W201-generation Mercedes 190E, announced in July 2026. Every car is built to order and finished to the buyer's own specification, so no two are meant to be identical. This is a coachbuilt, bespoke project rather than a limited run of showroom cars.
The engine
The heart of it is period-correct in origin and wildly reworked in execution. Vespera takes the classic Mercedes M103 straight-six, enlarges it to 3.0 litres, adds a turbocharger and forged internals, and extracts 765 hp and 910 Nm. Drive goes to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox with a mechanical limited-slip differential. The result is 0 to 100 km/h in 3.4 seconds and a top speed of around 300 km/h, helped by a dry weight of just 1,450 kg. A manual, rear-drive, turbocharged straight-six restomod is about as pure as this genre gets.
The body
Every panel is replaced in carbon fibre, and the track is widened by around 20 cm in total, giving the car a dramatically more planted stance. The oversized wheel arches and the enormous rear wing deliberately echo the original 2.5-16 Evolution II, sitting over OZ Racing wheels. The launch car wears a dark green with gold accents, and Vespera says each customer's paint colour will be used only once, so your car's shade stays yours.
Inside
The cabin mixes carbon, leather and Alcantara, again fully customisable, with a deliberate focus on analogue controls rather than screens. That is the whole point of a car like this: for the buyer who wants the drama and the noise without a tablet bolted to the dashboard.
The HWA comparison
Vespera is not being subtle about its target. On the numbers, the Iride Evo 5 claims 265 hp more than the HWA EVO's 500 hp, an 18 km/h higher top speed and around 35 kg less weight. Two very different companies are now chasing the same icon from opposite ends of Europe: HWA with its motorsport pedigree and direct link to AMG's founder, Vespera with Italian coachbuilding and a more extreme spec sheet. The 190E Evo has become a genuine restomod battleground.
AutoNext Take
A carbon-bodied, manual, 765 hp 190E is a wonderful thing to exist, and the fact that two firms are now fighting over the Evo II is proof of how deeply that car is loved. But it is worth keeping the spec-sheet duel in perspective, because a restomod is not won on horsepower. HWA has real motorsport engineering and the most legitimate name in the room; Vespera has bigger numbers and Italian craft. Which is the better car will come down to how they drive, how they are built and how they hold their value, none of which a top-speed figure settles. Still, if the choice for wealthy 190E obsessives is now between two beautiful, analogue, hand-built monsters, that is a very good problem to have. Vespera has just made the fight interesting.
