You know, we’re feeling much more receptive to the idea of an AMG-tweaked Mercedes-Benz A-Class than we were last year. Maybe that’s because Mercedes has since given us a good idea of what the next A-Class will look like.

Let’s face it, the last A-Class was more or less a top-heavy pile of boring. But if the Concept A-Class pictured here is anything to go by (and it is—the production car should share about 85 percent of the concept’s styling cues), we wouldn’t mind being seen in it. And if AMG is, in fact working on a 350 horsepower version of the car—likely with four-wheel-drive, no less—we wouldn’t mind messing around with it, either.

Last time we heard about AMG playing with the A-Class, rumor was the engineers were experimenting with a turbocharged 2.0 liter I4. Looks like there’s a chance the Subaru STI may have some very unexpected competition. We’re all in favor of that…and we’re definitely in favor of seeing the Concept A in the flesh at the New York Auto Show tomorrow.

[via Top Gear]