20/09/2026
This might be the wildest Mercedes ever built.
This is the Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 Evolution II, and it came from an era when manufacturers had to build road cars if they wanted to go racing.
Mercedes wanted to win in the German Touring Car Championship, so it transformed the ordinary 190E into this.
Under the hood was a 2.5-liter, 16-valve four-cylinder producing 235 horsepower, paired with a dogleg five-speed manual transmission.
But the engine is only part of what made the Evo II special.
Look at it.
Massive box flares. Aggressive bumpers. Adjustable suspension. And one of the biggest rear wings ever fitted to a Mercedes road car.
It was not just for looks, either. Mercedes developed the aerodynamics in the wind tunnel to make the car more effective at high speed and, more importantly, on the racetrack.
And Mercedes built just 502 of them.
That was enough to homologate the Evolution II for competition, where the 190E would become one of the defining cars of the DTM era.
Today, these cars are incredibly collectible, and the best examples can sell for serious money.
But the reason the Evo II is so special is not just its value.
Mercedes took a small four-door sedan, gave it race-car engineering, ridiculous bodywork, a giant wing, and built one of the coolest homologation specials of all time.
The 190E Evolution II.
Mercedes will probably never build another car quite like it.
