They’re not kidding around.
Mercedes-Benz has had to realign the positioning of its venerable SL-Class roadster, after finding its turf encroached upon by the posh S-Class Cabriolet and AMG GT. They haven’t axed it though, and that’s a good sign. But in order to ensure it remains fighting fit and able to justify its own existence, Mercedes-Benz has handed over the development of the model to the nutters in Affalterbach, AMG.
This was confirmed by AMG boss Tobias Moers, who said that he and his team are working hard to restore the glory of the storied SL name.
“We’re bringing back the historic DNA of the SL. It’s far sportier [in its newest iteration]. It will have the perfect compromise between driving dynamics and comfort, because it’s still kind of a cruiser too. Handing over SL to AMG as the performance and sports car brand is great. There’s lots of responsibility behind that, and I’m really honoured.” – Tobias Moers, Chief Executive Officer, Mercedes-AMG GmbH
While the S-Class Cabriolet shares its underpinnings with the current-generation limousine, the SL-Class will be more closely-related to the AMG GT. That means it’ll make use of the Modular Sport Architecture (MSA), and make use of things like the 48V electrical architecture, steering & suspension, as well as a myriad of other components. Once completed, the SL will be the only stand-alone two-door in the range, with plans to succeed the SLC shelved earlier this year (along with the SLC itself).
It’s suggested by Autocar that the SL will be offered with a “limited range” of petrol-electric inline-6 engines and V8 petrols, which should encompass both the vanilla variants as well as the AMG models. The SL450 with EQBoost should serve as one end of the bookened, while the other end will be bookended by the AMG SL63. To that end, the 63 is most-likely going to make use of some variety of V8 motor, given that Mercedes-Benz has all but killed off its 12-cylinder engines, save for the poshest versions of the S-Class.
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