Mercedes GT AMG – Merc’s Porsche Hunter

This is pretty much how Mercedes-Benz’ SLS-replacing GT will look when it breaks cover at next year’s German grand prix. Based on latest spy shots and refined following our discussions with Mercedes design boss Gorden Wagener, we put together these sketches on the new GT 368kW twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 flagship supercar that Mercedes-Benz’s AMG is putting the final touches to.

Developed and built in nine months and under codename C190 it will replace the four-year-old SLS and is set to challenge the performance, dynamics and driving appeal of the latest Porsche 911 Turbo at a far sharper price than the SLS it replaces. Expected to cost close to R1.65 million when it goes on sale in early 2015, “GT will make the Porsche 911 Turbo look plain”, Wagener explains. “They are stuck to their evolutionary design philosophy, but we are rather looking at something quite revolutionary”.

Expect it to be called GT, assembled on the same production line as the discontinued SLS and based on predominantly aluminum space frame chassis elements. The newcomer will borrow the double wishbone front and multi-link rear suspension at and a raft of electronic driver aids with the SLS, while its body is a combination of aluminum and composite panels.

The GT follows the SLS’s lead in boasting a distinctive cab-back profile behind an imposing long bonnet and short rear deck, proportions dictated by the original SL but it adopts conventional front-hinged doors in place of the SLS’s gull wings. Another key change is the fastback style rear hatch for easier access to the luggage compartment. As with the SLS, an electronically controlled spoiler deploys from the rear for added down force at speeds above 120km/h.

The 0-100km/h is said to be “well under 4 seconds” with a top speed “well in excess of 300km/h” and GT is said to lap the Nurburgring circuit “considerably faster than the standard SLS”.

Specification