Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Leaked, eDrive Coming

By now, we've gotten a really good idea of what the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG will look like. Various renderings and spyshots have popped up and they all point to a really promising new supercar.

I was never a big fan of the Mercedes SLR McLaren because I didn't think it's styling was worthy of it's price and status. Now the SLS AMG on the other hand, looks excellent.

It seems like this might be a picture of the actual production car, not just a rendering. It has echoes of classic vehicles like the Mercedes-Benz 300SL, and ditches the double-headlight design found on Mercedes vehicles of the past few years. It truly does look recognizable as a 300SL, just brought up to date. I especially love the gullwing doors (Mercedes calls them "swing wing").

The interesting story though is that Mercedes is developing an electric-version of the sports car, dubbed the SLS eDrive. Mercedes itself is talking about it too: “The great thing is we haven't had to alter the styling in any way....it's completely original in appearance.” says AMG head, Volker Mornhinweg.

The SLS eDrive will be based on the standard SLS platform. “The very nature of the SLS, with its sizeable engine bay, sturdy torque tube running back along the backbone of the car and the mounting point for fuel tank, lends itself perfectly to adaptation for electrification." So, the SLS eDrive is will be very similar to the gas version inside and out. That's a good thing!

At between 93 and 112 miles, range for the SLS eDrive will be disappointing in comparison to others like the Tesla Roadster. However, performance will be top notch. AMG is expecting 0-60 times of less than 4 seconds, in comparison to 3.8 seconds for the gasoline vehicle. I just can't wait to see the standard car, which is supposed to debut in Spring of 2010. We'll be waiting for some time before the eDrive appears though - think 2015.