Mercedes Benz all the rules

Mercedes SLS AMG Gullwing. Photo / Supplied

Mercedes-Benz trumped spy photographers by using its own spy-like pictures to confirm it will build a modern-day version of the legendary 300SL Gullwing.

Its AMG performance arm produced 51 images of the two-door supercar undergoing both hot and cold-weather testing and wearing only a light disguise. The photo here was taken in Sweden.

The SLS AMG, as it will be called, will be unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September and go on sale in Europe in 2010, when the original iconic Gullwing coupe will be 55 years old.

The new car effectively replaces the $2 million McLaren SLR supercar, built in limited numbers in Britain for the past seven years by Mercedes-Benz' Formula One partner McLaren. Production will end in December with the final special edition SLR Stirling Moss speedster.

Pictures of the SLS AMG at speed on Germany's Nurburgring circuit and kicking up dust on the Pikes Peak hillclimb in the US show its links with the outgoing SLR and the iconic 300SL racer Stirling Moss drove to victory in the 1955 Mille Miglia, in Italy.

The luxury carmaker says the SLS AMG is the first vehicle developed entirely in-house in the 40-year history of Mercedes-AMG. Work began on the car in 2006.

It will be available both in left- and right-hand drive and powered by a heavily reworked version of the naturally aspirated 6.2-litre V8 engine that sits under the bonnet of a number of AMG-engineered Mercs, from the C63 through to the CL63.

The SLS AMG unit will deliver 420kW at 6800rpm and 650Nm of torque from 4750rpm, somewhat modest output compared with the 478kW/820Nm the swansong SLR Stirling Moss speedster produces from its supercharged 5.4-litre V8.

But the SLS AMG is almost 150kg lighter than the McLaren SLR, thanks to the use of an all-aluminium spaceframe body, a first for Mercedes-Benz.

The SLS AMG has a kerb weight of 1620kg against 1768kg for the carbon-fibre-bodied SLR.

The 6.2-litre unit weighs 206kg and sits well back under the long bonnet of the SLS AMG. Weight split front and rear is 48/52 per cent, the rear bias largely the result of a Ferrari-style rear-mounted transaxle.

Power goes to the rear wheels via a lightweight carbon-fibre driveshaft and a BMW M3-style seven-speed twin-clutch sequential gearbox, another first for Mercedes-Benz. It incorporates four driving programmes plus a launch control system called Racestart.

A three-stage electronic stability control pioneered by the BMW M3 will help the careless driver to reign in the rear.

The SLS AMG suspension system is forged aluminium double wishbones front and rear. It gets ceramic composite brakes and 9.5x19-inch (front) and 11.0x20-inch (rear) light alloy wheels with unique 265/35 R19 (front) and 295/30 R20 (rear) tyres.

Top speed is expected to be around 315km/h, with a zero to 100km/h time of under four seconds. The carmaker says the SLS AMG will return town-and-around fuel economy of 13 litres/100km (22mpg) and meet future emissions standards.

No word on the cost of the car in New Zealand. The Australians, however, expect to land it for around A$450,000 ($560,000).