Every since Mercedes announced that the lack luster McLaren production has stopped, speculation and rumors flew for a while. For those who owned them, the trend to sell seemed to end. Why not, when a rare highly exotic car goes out of production, the existing ones value go up. Hm… Fords GT didn’t seem to fair that way, but maybe the SLS McLaren will suffer a better fate.

Well, a few months ago, spy photos of the new SLS started to emerge. Heavily guarded famous black panels and all, but Mercedes seemed to relish in the news leak and while trying to hide the general look of the front end, the rest of the car is easey to decipher. A few weeks ago, they let some reporters take the new 2010 Mercedes Benz SLS AMG for a spin at the famous Nurburgring and MotorTrend reporter, Arthur St Antoine had this to say.

MotorTrend posted an article just days ago regarding that first. Here’s an excerpt:

First Drive: 2010 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG

We Fly the New Gullwing — the First-Ever All-AMG Benz — Through the World’s Greatest Race Track: The Green Hell.

text size

July 15, 2009

By Arthur St. Antoine

CLICK TO VIEW GALLERY

I’m barely three turns into my first lap, and already my brain has automatically activated its auxiliary data logger, the one reserved for “extra-special events.” I don’t want to forget a nanosecond of this. Partly, it’s a result of the venue. For the first time in my career, I’m driving on Germany’s 13-mile-long Nurburgring Nordschleife, a.k.a. “The Green Hell,” the most fearsome, challenging, and dangerous racetrack in the world. But my highly elevated pulse is also due in large measure to the screaming, whirling vehicle at hand. I don’t entirely know what it looks like — the prototype’s bodywork is still masked by tape and cardboard camouflage — but if these first few blitzkrieg corners are any indication, the all-new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG “Gullwing” is going to disrupt the supercar pantheon when it hits American roads next spring.

— Snagged only a portion 0f the article, read the rest on the MotorTrend site —

Fortunately, they also posted some pictures. Even with the disguises, you can see the basic shape of the car. This will be another car to watch and see what happens. So far, they’re suggesting the non AMG price to sit around $145,000 US dollars, so the additional AMG will probably shoot it up over $200K easily. We’ll see. Hopefully it wont be at the McLaren level and we’ll get to see a few more of these on the mean streets of a major metropolis near you.

The most striking new feature is of course, the doors. Mercedes hasn’t done a gull wing in a few years and with modern designs going in all directions, it’s cool to see a classic style come back. Love or hate Mercedes, they’re always innovating and coming up with new ideas, err, using old ones. Okay, still, Mercedes makes powerful, exciting and beautiful cars that make heads turn.

Looking past the black tape and cardboard, it looks a little more refined than the McLaren, which had the pointy nose. I hated that feature. With the release of the new E-Class and C-Class in recent months, they’re probably going with the more chiseled look. But that’s just pure speculation on my part.

As for the interior, not that exciting looking. Pretty standard Mercedes and carbon fiber galore. In fact, the tiny looking shifter that only has RND12 kind of scares me. I’m wondering if they installed their 7 speed automatic and there’s a C & S mode? As long as it has the Harmon Kardon stereo, the world will be right. No wait, if I want to listen the engine whine, I guess the HK might have to be turned down.

No matter your opinion, personally, I can’t wait to see the full unveiling. Until then, we can only look at these spy shots. (Looks a little like a SL65 AMG Black)

SL65 AMG Black