Mercedes SL65 AMG Black Series (2008): first photos

By Tim Pollard

First Official Pictures

11 July 2008 08:16

Mercedes isn't just a car company; it now offers a conveyor belt to satisfy the most farflung consumer mores. Why else launch the SL65 AMG Black Series? It's not as if the current SL63 and SL65 aren't powerful or fast enough (604bhp and 4.2sec 0-62mph, anyone?). But today's latest addition takes the SL into as yet uncharted, extreme sporting territory.

As with the SLK and CLK, the Black Series SL adds more power, more sporting focus, more body addenda – and a steep price hike too. It will cost a cool quarter of a million pounds when UK sales kick off later in the year.

So just how powerful is the SL65 AMG Black Series?

Quick recap. The SL63 uses Merc's V8 engine, the SL65 the V12. It's the latter that powers the Black, sharing the same 5980cc capacity but with a raft of new technology to squeeze some extra muscle. It's handbuilt, the craftsmen of Affalterbach bolting on modified air intakes, an AMG sports exhaust, 30 percent more powerful intercooler and twin turbos whose spiral cross section is now 12 percent bigger.

Only a German car company could make such a claim, but the extra air they ram into the engine helps develop a slightly heady 661bhp and 737lb ft of torque – developed between 2200rpm and 4200rpm. Sounds like this thing is going to have ferocious pull at any speed...

Click 'Next' to read more spec details of the SL65 AMG Black Series

By Tim Pollard