2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG

W hile a long front hood, short body overhangs, and a short tail section define its silhouette, the stylistic highlight of the new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is unquestionably its gullwing doors. This is the first-ever car designed and developed from the ground up by AMG, Mercedes' performance division, and boy does it show. The technology, materials, and performance numbers of the SLS AMG will almost make you forget all about those gullwing doors.

The new SLS AMG joins the elite few high-performance cars that can break the four-second barrier for 0-60 mph acceleration. Weighing in at a lean 3,573 pounds, the SLS AMG can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in only 3.7 seconds, with an electronically limited top speed of 197 mph.

It sports an aluminum space-frame body, 563-horsepower AMG V8 engine with dry sump lubrication, carbon-fiber driveshaft, dual-clutch, seven-speed transmission and a double-wishbone suspension at all four corners. And with a front-mid engine and rear-mounted transaxle, the SLS AMG boasts ideal weight distribution (47-53 percent, front-to-rear) which, in combination with its extremely low center of gravity, provides race-car-like handling.

Pricing is estimated at between $200,000 - $250,000 when it goes on sale in the spring of 2010.

PHOTOS and VIDEOS , including laps in the SLS AMG at Nurburgring, at right. Click the ARTICLE tab above for more info. To see the original 300SL Gullwing, click here .


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2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG

“It is more than just the exclusive gullwing doors that make the design of the new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG so special. Our aim with this interpretation is to create the classic car of the future and put the most beautiful sports car of the 21st century on the road. Another of our goals is to create a new design icon that, like other Mercedes models such as the CLS and the SL, will help shape the incomparable story of our brand. At the same time, the new SLS is a harbinger of the design philosophy of future Mercedes-Benz sports cars.”

For the first time, a Mercedes-Benz body has been developed almost entirely of aluminum – not only the spaceframe, but the outer skin as well. A strong and extremely rigid structure, the entire SLS AMG body weighs only 530 pounds.

The SLS AMG spaceframe is comprised of 76 percent contoured aluminum sheets, 20 percent cast aluminum parts and four percent steel. Only the engine subframe and front roof pillars or “A” pillars are made of ultra high-strength, heat-formed steel. Since it hides antennae for the radio, GPS navigation, telematics and cellular telephone, the trunk lid is made of a plastic composite.

In most other places where high forces are involved or large parts such as the gullwing doors or dash assembly are attached, cast aluminum is used. Cast parts can be contoured exactly as needed – with reinforcing ribs in some areas and minimized wall thickness in others.

In particular, a cast aluminum roof member anchors the highly stressed hinges for the gullwing doors and, at the same time, connects the front and rear roof frames.

The aluminum inner and outer panels of the gullwing doors are bonded together with SPF superplastic forming, and an ultra-high-strength, cold-formed steel brace inside each door sits against the door pillars to protect occupants in side collisions.

The gullwing doors allow for a thick, extremely rigid door sill structure that strengthens the occupant safety cell and helps channel crash energy around the occupant area, along with continuous side members that run from the front cross-member to the door sill sections.

Located low in the vehicle to keep the center of gravity as low as possible, longitudinal frame members connect the front and rear body sections. Transverse reinforcing struts in the front and rear body sections connect the left and right suspension, providing high transverse rigidity that’s needed during cornering and eliminating the need for secondary reinforcing supports.

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Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG

The Gullwinged-one is back and its performance numbers are staggering.

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