5
NEWS
SPY PICS: Mercedes-AMG SLC... or SLA?
Smaller sports car will be coded C190, but the model name is yet to be revealedIt may not have made a decision on the future of the SLS, but the Daimler board is only half a year away from delivering a smaller, hard-core Mercedes-Benz sports car.
Code-named the C190 and variously dubbed the SLA or the SLC, the car will skip the motor show circuit entirely and will instead start hunting the Porsche 911 from around June next year.
The C190, dubbed the baby SLS inside AMG, will be based on a cut-down version of the SLS’s aluminium space frame architecture and will use a smaller, twin-turbo V8 motor. Under development at AMG for nearly three years, the 4.0-litre V8 will give AMG a range of power outputs from around 480 horsepower to beyond 530 horsepower.
This engine will be the first glimpse of the V8 that will power the mid-range swathe of AMG machines like the C-Class Coupe and sedan, with the A 45 and CLA 45 using 2.0-litre turbo power and the heavy hitters sticking with the 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8. It will also spell the death of the naturally aspirated 6.2-litre V8 in the current C63 AMG.
The car’s design will be more in keeping with Benz’s new design language, though it will be more aggressive looking than the recently unveiled S-Class Coupe in keeping with its AMG-only status.
It won’t carry over the SLS coupe’s gullwing doors, though, with AMG’s head honchos believing the 1960s throwback portals have served their stylistic purpose and no longer justify their complexity or their centre-of-gravity handicaps.
The long-nose, short-tailed proportions will carry over out of architectural necessity, though it will be somewhere between the SLK and the SL in its overall length. There are no initial plans for a convertible version of the C190, largely because Mercedes-Benz feels the lighter, more agile, more overtly sporting AMG will poach sales from its grand tourer SL.
While its production racing performances have been stellar in private hands, having won the 24 hour races at Spa, Daytona and the Nurburgring along with the Bathurst 12 Hour, SLS has suffered from perceptions that it’s too heavy to compete directly with rivals like the Ferrari 458, the Lamborghini Gallardo and the Audi R8.
Dumping the gullwing doors has been one of several weight-saving measures AMG has concentrated on with the C190 as it has hacked away at the SLS’s 1695kg mass to deliver something closer to 1400kg.
It is likely to have a starting price just under the €100,000 barrier, though top-end models like the Black Series will add at least €30,000 to that figure.
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Written byMichael Taylor
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