Mercedes-Benz is trumpeting a weight loss of over 100kg for the first new SL-Class in eleven years. The car is 50mm longer and 57mm wider than the existing R230 model.
The new car is having its global debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit and is the sixth generation model to be called SL, some sixty years since the launch of the orginal.
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In the quest to return some meaning to the model’s name*, Daimler’s engineers have given this hard-topped convertible aluminium body panels as well as a bespoke platform that is constructed almost entirely of lightweight materials. Version for version, the new car is claimed to weigh up to 140kg less than the existing model.
“The effect is rather as if a heavyweight-class passenger had got out of the car,” says Dr Thomas Rudlaff, responsible for the aluminium bodyshell at Mercedes-Benz. “The result is perceptible and measurable. Less weight means more dynamism and less consumption. In other words: the motoring enjoyment increases, the environmental burden sinks.”
Two variants will be available from launch, the SL 350 and the SL 500 (the 500 will be marketed as the SL 550 in the US). As per usual with Mercedes-Benz, the numerical part of the badge can be accurate or inaccurate: the 500/550 is powered not by a 5.0-litre engine but instead a 425hp (320kW) version of the existing Mercedes-Benz 4,663cc V8, while the cheaper car comes with a 306hp (225kW) 3,499cc V6. Stop-start and a seven-speed automatic gearbox are standard for both. An AMG variant should follow in due course and, possibly, a diesel.
Despite the statements about a lightweight SL, the new 500/550 weighs in at a still hefty 1,785kg. Here then is but the latest example of how hard it is for manufacturers to balance the safety and luxury features now demanded by car buyers with their desire for less lardy cars. The SL 350 is, incidentally, the variant for which the 140kg claim is made: it is said to tip the scales at 1,685kg.
As for the convertible top, this can be had with either standard glass or the Magic Sky Control from the SLK-Class. Mercedes says the system lowers itself in 20 seconds and is more cleanly integrated than the roof in the existing R230 SL. There is also said to be a 13-pound weight saving thanks to partial magnesium construction.
Those interested in the new R231’s place of manufacture should note that Bremen remains the location, but according to a statement issued by Daimler in December 2009, the SL will switch to Sindelfingen in 2014.
* traditionally Sportlichkeit so Sport, Light in English, yet curiously, Mercedes-Benz’s English language media material is accidentally (?) rewriting the company’s history, stating that the S is for ‘Super’
