Arika korps fought in 1943 which is when most of the advanced vehicles were produced such as Tiger and Elefant. There was Tiger tanks in afrika korps.
Please no Afrika Korps, mind this: if you have to do something about eastern front you don't say that's a clash between Soviet Union and Romania, you say Germany and its allies vs Soviet Union.
The same for Africa, you can't say Afrika Korps vs British forces, you should say Italy + german support vs British forces. Seriously the famous Afrika Korps was composed of 5 divisions (4 before El Alamein), while Italians sent in Lybia (italian colony) 24 divisions, even if Rommel commanded the troops, he was not the commander in chief of the operation because the commander was the governor of Lybia.
PS: Afrika Korps was not composed of the best units that Germany had ... just to debunk some myths. I'm not against adding factions, i'm all for adding new factions, i'm very excited for the british! But i'm tired of reading and listening DAK did this, DAK did that, Rommel here, Rommel there, Rommel everywhere. I'm tired that in WW2 games we have Germans VS the world (in fact this could be true) but CoH2 has not a specific time even if many say late 1944, i don't agree because we have Moscow Outskirts (1941), Stalingrad (1942 - 1943) and so on. I think that the new front should be the mediterranean and this is the moment for the italian army, and i'm sure it could fit in CoH2 also because there won't be problems that italy had: poor leadership because you're in command not the generals, no supply problems and so on.
For the tanks i know that they have a light armour but Italy's strenght is its SPGs primarily.