Sold Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Cars

The body is an aluminium space frame weighing 241 kg, carrying double wishbones with forged aluminium arms at both ends. The Black Series is 70 kg lighter than the standard coupé: more carbon fibre in the panels and in the frame, a titanium exhaust that saves 13 kg and a lithium-ion battery that saves 8 more. Track is widened by 20 mm at the front and 24 mm at the rear, and the brakes are ceramic discs of 402 mm and 360 mm. The gullwing doors are pulled shut by hand, because AMG refused the 41 kg an automatic closing system would have added. In a rollover, explosive bolts at the top of the door frame fire and the doors separate from the car. A temporary M mode hands the driver manual control at a single pull of a paddle, without letting go of the wheel, and the COMAND screen is replaced by a carbon fibre panel.

The SLS was the first Mercedes-Benz designed and built from scratch by AMG, a deliberate revival of the 300 SL gullwing drawn by Mark Fetherston. Its chassis and aluminium body come from Magna Steyr in Graz and the car is assembled at Sindelfingen; 132 Black Series coupés were built between 2013 and 2015, and the engine was then the most powerful naturally aspirated V8 fitted to a production car.