A set of leaked patent office drawings gave us our first look at the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Convertible, but left plenty to the imagination. Given the lack of detail in the leaked drawings, we decided to hand things over to our in-house artist, giving us a far more realistic preview of the upcoming SLS AMG Convertible.
Envisioned as a more cruising-oriented variant of the high-performance SLS, the convertible will eschew the coupe’s gullwing doors for a more traditional entry, as well as an SLR-like powered soft-top.
Although the SLS convertible will be going sans top, we expect the open air supercar to retain the coupe’s 563 horsepower 6.2-liter V8 – making it the last application for the motor. Mercedes-Benz has already indicated that the 6.2 will go the way of the dinosaur next year, being replaced by a twin-turbo 5.5-liter V8, good for roughly the same output as the 6.2-liter V8.
The convertible will likely carry an added weight penalty, despite losing the gullwing doors and switching to traditional doors for a slight weight savings – thus we expect the SLS to post a slight drop in its zero-to-60 time of about 4 seconds – with a top speed very close to 200 mph.
The SLS coupe will likely hit Mercedes showrooms with a price tag south of $200,000, but the SLS convertible could surpass that, reflecting its premium nature. No word on annual production, but well less than 5,000 annual units seems like a sure bet.
Regarding availability, we’re not expecting this version of the SLS to be launched for nearly two years, but we are expecting this to be just the beginning of our photo exposé – if the SLS hardtop was anything to go by!
References
1. ‘2012 Mercedes-Benz…’ view
03/11, 10:46 AM
posted by:
cocksterS
Convertibles are nice, but the point of this car (as with the original) lies in the gullwing doors.
03/11, 12:50 PM
posted by:
pavlindrom
The dashed lines must be what is not included in the car, according to me. That means that the wheels and the interior will not be included in the price of the car. But that is silly. Ergo, I’m not trustworthy.
^ A little something to comment on.
03/11, 7:23 PM
posted by:
mavrick
this will probably be 1 used porsche boxster more expensive than the hardtop gullwing. just food for thought
03/12, 3:56 PM
posted by:
atoms
and will it truly be worth that 1 used boxster more? I doubt it…
03/12, 3:59 PM
posted by:
JakeK66
Loves better than the coupe and I generally hate coverts.
03/12, 6:55 PM
posted by:
Troll Killer
@ JakeK66
I think it’s because the back of the roof somewhat ruins the shape of the coupe. I agree with you.
03/12, 7:39 PM
posted by:
iggibiggi
The doors better have some cool way of opening or…THIS CAR SUCKS!!
03/12, 7:48 PM
posted by:
scratchy
i really want this car.
03/12, 8:26 PM
posted by:
zoomzoomer
So minus the hardtop and gullwing doors, it’s now just a REEEEEALY expensive Viper.
03/12, 8:26 PM
posted by:
zoomzoomer
^ REEEEEEALLLLLY
03/12, 8:51 PM
posted by:
leftwingagenda
that profile shot is pretty sweet…and you door fetishists need to chill the **** out…
03/12, 9:10 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
My profile shot is pretty sweet too… and I dare you to say fetishists 10 times fast.
03/12, 9:30 PM
posted by:
Turbo Lag
Uh, what exactly do those patent drawing leave to the imagination? Seems pretty clear to me…
03/13, 12:22 AM
posted by:
MurcieMe
I don’t care about the doors, this looks much nicer than the coupe. The coupe is horribly inelegant from the waist up. I find the front end, the greenhouse and the rear end of the coupe look like their from 3 different cars. As a convertible it’s a far more cohesive as a design.
03/13, 1:11 AM
posted by:
MoDo
The Viper will also whip it and its gull wing brothers ass…for a fraction of the price and turn just as many heads.
03/13, 2:31 AM
posted by:
leftwingagenda
yes, but those heads will all be sporting mullets…the merc turns the head of a different crowd…
03/13, 11:15 AM
posted by:
iggibiggi
I forgot to mention, I like the way it looks A LOT, even though it doesn’t have the cool doors, but I just hate how they marketed the SLS as the new gullwing but then came out with this!
03/13, 9:44 PM
posted by:
Troll Killer
Hahaha…bringing up the dodge viper. C’mon guys. The Viper has the cheapest interior in the history of automobiles. It literally makes the GT-R’s interior look like Rolls Royce.
Even Viper owners realized it was crap and upgraded to the luxurious (in comparison) GT-R/Corvette. Not that any of these cars compete with the SLS in the first place…
03/14, 5:11 AM
posted by:
jimmyblaze
Excellent photoshop on the convertible looks worlds better than the botched up job they made of the gullwing. Which I still like although the proportions and roofline are all wrong.