At the LA Auto Show, the lights were shining bright on the leather lined tanning booth which is the freshly primped 2017 Mercedes-Benz SL.
A fresh face comes to the SL inspired Mercedes-Benz says by the legendary 300 SL Panamericana race car.
A new grille and LED headlamp ensemble across the lineup creates a new and unique face for the SL to further distinguish it from other models.
Standard AMG body styling features the Mercedes-Benz A-wing design theme. A body color front splitter and details like powerdome bulges on the hood are retro touches from that of the iconic SL design handbook.
Opening up its rich cabin to the air is the vario-roof, which can now be opened and closed at speeds up to 25mph. There’s also a new automatic trunk separator which moves the up for increased trunk space, and automatically down when the top is opened.
The hardware that moves the SL gets more robust and technologically advanced with a 9G-TRONIC automatic transmission, DYNAMIC SELECT with five transmission modes and Active Body Control with a curve tilting function.
Engines start with a twin-turbo 3.0 liter V6 now with 362 horsepower in the SL450. Though a Euro Spec SL500 is shown here in our video footage from Mercedes-Benz, in North America we will have an SL550 with a 449 horsepower turbocharged 4.7 liter V8.
Topping the range will be of course the Mercedes-AMG lineup with includes both the SL63 and SL65. These start with the 5.5 liter AMG turbocharged V8 with 577 horsepower. The top level SL65 gets the fire-breathing 621 horsepower V12.
The new 2017 Mercedes-Benz SL series has a list of technologies and luxury touches that I could talk about for an hour. But you’d enjoy that conversation a bit more sitting in one at your local dealer, which can happen starting in the spring of 2016.