Gullwinged supercar to take off

Local deliveries of the SLS AMG are expected in July/August. Photo / Supplied

Mercedes-Benz is adhering to a high-quality production process with the SLS AMG super-coupe.

Production of the SLS AMG gullwinged super-coupe has started at Sindelfingen in Germany, Mercedes-Benz's largest assembly plant.

The luxury carmaker marked the occasion just four months after the supercar's world debut at the Frankfurt motor show.

Final New Zealand and Australian production numbers are yet to be locked in, but will number around 70 this year, with first local deliveries expected in July or August. European customers will take delivery from March 27.

Mercedes-Benz on both sides of the Tasman has so far received more than 35 paid-up orders for the model, which is expected to cost upwards of $500,000 in New Zealand.

"The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG has been extremely well received by our customers," said Mercedes-Benz Cars head of sales and marketing Dr Joachim Schmidt.

"Even in advance of the actual market launch, orders have considerably exceeded our expectations. This shows that the exciting design and extraordinary concept of our gullwing model precisely meet the taste and aspirations of potential customers."

Mercedes-Benz used the opportunity to highlight the new gullwing model's high-quality production process at Sindelfingen, which was deemed in 2008 to have the best vehicle delivery quality of any automotive production plant worldwide by US market research group JD Power and Associates.

"Made in Sindelfingen also stands for the very highest production and product quality where the SLS AMG is concerned," said Daimler chairman and Mercedes-Benz Cars CEO, Dr Dieter Zetsche. "From the end of March, our customers will be able to verify this for themselves."

As the first model to be developed fully in-house by Mercedes-AMG, the SLS's 420kW/650Nm dry-sump 6.2-litre V8 is assembled by hand at the AMG engine workshops in Affalterbach, under the "one man, one engine" principle.

Matched with a seven-speed double-clutch automated manual transmission in a transaxle configuration, it will be front/mid-mounted in an aluminium spaceframe body with gullwing doors, which weighs 241kg.

The chassis and aluminium bodyshell are produced by Austrian company Magna Steyr in Graz, where the Mercedes-Benz G-class has been in production since 1979.

Mercedes says the assembly lines and production facilities at Sindelfingen were upgraded to latest standards specifically for final assembly of the SLS, which is put together by specially selected and trained technicians.

The SLS AMG has a kerb weight of 1620kg, front/rear weight distribution of 47/53 per cent and aluminium double wishbone suspension at both ends.

Putting the SLS right in the ballpark of its direct supercar rivals, Benz claims a zero to 100km/h sprint time of 3.8 seconds, on its way to an electronically governed top speed of 317km/h, with combined average fuel consumption of 13.2 litres/100km.