Gullwing coupe runneth over

We've seen signs of an economic recovery, with an ease in decline of Australian new-car sales in recent months, but this could be the biggest indication yet that we are well and truly out of the doldrums.

Demand for the half-million-dollar Mercedes-Benz SLS Gullwing coupe has tripled locally, with more customers expected to place orders in the coming months.

Mercedes-Benz Australia already had five orders before the car had even been unveiled last month.

But since the covers have come off and the doors were flung open to the public, Mercedes-Benz Australia is now holding 15 cashed-up customer orders.

"That's 15 substantial deposits paid, not expressions of interest," said Mercedes-Benz Australia spokesman David McCarthy. "Clearly AMG and GFC don't go together."

The uber Benz is due on local roads about June next year.

As is typical of buyers of cars in this price range, Mercedes isn't saying who's behind the wheel -- and the deposits. But we suspect trucking magnate Linsday Fox, long time Benz fanatic and owner of an immaculate original Gullwing, may be one of those in the queue.

The SLS Gullwing is powered by a 6.2-litre V8 engine matched to a seven-speed automated transmission and is said to sprint from 0 to 100km/h in 3.9 seconds.

Mercedes has also revealed it has plans to introduce a fully-electric version in a few years' time. With electric motors in each wheel it is said to have the same performance as the petrol-powered version.

Each Gullwing will be assembled by hand at AMG headquarters in Affalterbach, not far from Mercedes headquarters in Stuttgart.

Production of left-hand-drive models is due to start in the first quarter of 2010 and the right-hand-drive version should follow soon after.

"We don't expect there will be a big gap between left- and right-hand-drive," the boss of Mercedes-Benz Australia, Horst von Sanden told the Carsales Network earlier this year.

Mercedes estimates up to 25 per cent of Gullwing production will be right-hand-drive and sold in countries such as the UK, Japan, Hong Kong and South Africa, as well as Australia.

Of the electric version, he said: "We don't yet have confirmation if [the electric version] is to go into production. At the moment it's a prototype. [However] if it is available to us, it is certainly something we would consider."

He said AMG was serious about creating high performance cars that were "sustainable".

"It's not a PR stunt. There is clearly a need that, even in the high performance segment, that the environmental challenges are taken very seriously," he said.

The modern version of the Gullwing is widely believed to be a product of some high level professional jealousy inside Mercedes-Benz.

The modern Gullwing was apparently created to prove that Mercedes' performance division, AMG, could build a faster and more capable supercar than the SLR McLaren, of which about 500 were made.

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