Photo: S.Baldauf/SB-Medien
One of the most cartoonish-looking Mercedes-Benz prototypes in recent years has returned to testing, this time being thrashed around the Nurburgring Nordschleife.
The first time our spy photographers got in touch with the weird S-Class Coupe it was pretty evident that it was a mule for the seventh generation of the legendary SL Roadster, and this time it makes no exception, mainly because it's the exact same car.
For those with eyes untrained in the Matryoshka-type of Mercedes-Benz design language, what you are looking at in the adjacent photo gallery is a shortened and lowered Mercedes-AMG S 63 Coupe, which can technically mean two things.
First of all, the 2019 Mercedes-Benz SL-Class is likely to switch from its current, bespoke and aluminum-intensive architecture, to one derived from the MRA (Modular Rear-wheel-drive Architecture) that uses a combination of aluminum and high-strength low-alloy steel.
Second of all, the arrival of this mule also means that the SL-Class is not dead and actually has a future. Now that Mercedes-Benz decided to also offer a roadster version of the Mercedes-AMG GT from next year, and with pressure also coming from the S-Class Cabriolet, the SL's role in the Mercedes-Benz lineup has a become a little unclear.
Not to mention that the original SL had a name derived from Sport Leicht (Sports Light) and was not unlike a Mercedes-AMG GT of the '50s and '60s. It later generations slowly evolved in a GT, while the actual GT is a lot more original SL than the current generation.
Engine wise we are expecting a range comprised of a straight-six and multiple versions of the AMG-developed 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8. Mild- and full-hybrid variants aren't out of the question either, and it would be weird not to also feature at least one V12-powered model.
We should know more about the seventh generation of the SL once this hot rod mule gets replaced with a pre-production prototype in a few months. It is likely that the model's proportions won't change much from the car pictured here, while the rest of the visual details will be hidden with heavy camouflage, though.
For those with eyes untrained in the Matryoshka-type of Mercedes-Benz design language, what you are looking at in the adjacent photo gallery is a shortened and lowered Mercedes-AMG S 63 Coupe, which can technically mean two things.
First of all, the 2019 Mercedes-Benz SL-Class is likely to switch from its current, bespoke and aluminum-intensive architecture, to one derived from the MRA (Modular Rear-wheel-drive Architecture) that uses a combination of aluminum and high-strength low-alloy steel.
Second of all, the arrival of this mule also means that the SL-Class is not dead and actually has a future. Now that Mercedes-Benz decided to also offer a roadster version of the Mercedes-AMG GT from next year, and with pressure also coming from the S-Class Cabriolet, the SL's role in the Mercedes-Benz lineup has a become a little unclear.
Not to mention that the original SL had a name derived from Sport Leicht (Sports Light) and was not unlike a Mercedes-AMG GT of the '50s and '60s. It later generations slowly evolved in a GT, while the actual GT is a lot more original SL than the current generation.
Engine wise we are expecting a range comprised of a straight-six and multiple versions of the AMG-developed 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8. Mild- and full-hybrid variants aren't out of the question either, and it would be weird not to also feature at least one V12-powered model.
We should know more about the seventh generation of the SL once this hot rod mule gets replaced with a pre-production prototype in a few months. It is likely that the model's proportions won't change much from the car pictured here, while the rest of the visual details will be hidden with heavy camouflage, though.
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