Poor Mercedes: Nobody Wants Your Supercars

The Mercedes SLS AMG seems a pretty excellent piece of kit to the petrolhead bystander. Reminder: it packs a 6.2-litre 563bhp V8, dual clutch gearbox, gullwing doors and retro 300SL-on-roids looks. With that recipe, it’s weird (but good news for most of us) to see them pulling the same scary depreciation as the last Merc supercar, the SLR.

SLS AMGs are dropping in price way fast, while supercar rivals hold up. A 2011 Ferrari 458 or McLaren 12C with 5k on the clock still goes for around £165-£180k – basically brand new RRP, give or take a pair of carbon wingmirrors. Yet you can get same age, same mileage SLS coupe for around £105k. Okay, this isn’t bargain buying advice, but in the supercar realm, they’re basically giving gullwings away. The things burn through £70k in a few months. Not even Cypriot banks are losing money that quickly.

Question is, where do those numbers go next? Could we see a £50k SLS in three years time? By the time the SLS is replaced by the cheaper, 911-rivalling SLC in 2016, is it possible SLS AMGs will be going for the price of a decent-spec E-class?

The McMerc SLR has also experienced a freefall in values that Lindsay Lohan would be proud of. From £320k in 2003, this perfect spec black/red example is a snip at £150k.

It's done less than 3000 miles, and, because its owner is a fool, has 'never been driven in anger'. Remember, this McLaren-engineered super-SL has a carbonfibre tub, carbon panels, 208mph top speed and a cracking arsenal of show-off ammo; airbrake, side-exit exhausts, carbon brakes...yummy.

Thanks to its exotic, bespoke bits, the SLR will never be kicking around for M3 money, but the SLS might. Under those exotic doors, when all's said and done, it’s got the engine from a fast C-class, gets monstered for performance by the much cheaper SL63 AMG, and is priced like a 458 even though it can never compete for mid-engined wow factor. It’s the secret supercar bargain of the future, savvy speculators.

With Mercedes themselves pretty much admitting they screwed up by exiting the supercar game in a few years, to take on the 911 and lower-end Audi R8s, the SLS could be the last three-pointed star supercar for quite a while. It seems that however good they look, sound, or drive, the world just doesn’t go crazy for super-Mercs like it does for Ferrari, Lambos or Porsches. Keep an eye on the classified ads – and next time someone asks which are the biggest bargains out there on four wheels, you know what to tell them. £100k is a bargain – honest...