New York 2009: Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG

Now this is a cool Mercedes Supercar! Yes, the SLR McLaren was insanely fast but I found it could have done a little bit more in the design department. Mercedes-Benz looks to rectify that (all on it's own too) with the AMG SLS supercar.

Definitely more of a heritage look inspired by Mercedes' of old. I particularly like the long, elongated-type headlights. Much better then the pedestrian Mercedes trademark squircles on the SLR McLaren.

Good thing Mercedes is ditching that look for their new cars, I was getting sick of it. It's a good problem though, probably roots from me seeing so many of them. Means they're doing something right, huh?

The SLS AMG is a throwback to the 300SL. Check out those gull-wing doors (err, sorry... "swing wing" according to Mercedes)! Building this car should help the AMG brand as well as it is featuring quite prominently in the name.

In an unique move, the company chose to release two sketches of the exterior while at the same time announcing the production interior, complete with a press release of it's own. Mercedes is pursuing an aircraft-themed look throughout this car and that is really evident in the car's interior.

Wing-shaped dashboard. Check. Jet-themed dashboard. Check. Center stack themed like a jet-aircraft control area? Yup, the SLS AMG aims to be airplane-like. I think it succeeds too; it does have an feel of an airplane cockpit.

The SLS AMG have an all-aluminum chassis and body, a first for any Mercedes-Benz production vehicle. It helps achieve a curb weight of 3,571 pounds, 30 pounds lighter then the SLR McLaren.

I'm excited to see the look of the final car, it promises to be something special. Mercedes says the SLS AMG will "celebrate it's launch in Spring of 2010". Rumor is that pricing will come in at around $200,000, substantially less then SLR McLaren, with a production run limited to around 2,000 units per year.