Why the new Mercedes-AMG A45 sounds tamer than its forebear…

By: CAR magazine

Mercedes-Benz admits the new Mercedes-AMG A45 and CLA45 don’t sound quite as angry as their forebears, with the German firm blaming increasingly stringent emissions regulations in Europe for the change.

Speaking to CarAdvice, Bastian Bogenschutz, head of product planning for Mercedes-AMG compact cars, said Europe’s latest emissions regulations (requiring the fitment of petrol particulate filters) was to blame for the tamer soundtrack.

“The regulations were getting pretty difficult for the sound to just come from the exhaust system,” Bogenschutz told the Australian publication, confirming the Affalterbach-based performance division had thus opted to enhance the noise.

“So we added the AMG pure performance sound; there we take the real sound from the exhaust system, the pulsation of the real sound and move it inside the car. It works together with the exhaust system,” he explained.

Although not all markets will receive units fitted with the noise-sapping particulate filters, Bogenschutz said designing a different exhaust system for other countries would have been too costly.

“Globally, it’s the same, but it’s coming from the European regulations. We can [design specific exhausts] but it’s too expensive for every market to do it; it’s pretty difficult,” he said.

Bogenschutz furthermore said the lack of pops and crackles on the overrun was thanks to the same regulations.

“[It’s] nothing like [its predecessor], but even then it’s coming from the regulations as well.”

Both the A45 and the CLA45 employ the firm’s new M139 2,0-litre four-cylinder engine, which generates 285 kW and 480 N.m in the case of the standard models and a whopping 310 kW and 500 N.m in the case of the S-badged versions. For the record, only the high-output A45 S and CLA45 S variants are destined for South Africa.

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