Does anybody know how many s65 (coupe, convertible, or sedan) they made in actual colours? Seems like all I can find are grey scale colours?

 

I have attempted to find those numbers but failed at every attempt. Appears MB does not publish detailed production numbers but vague overall numbers that are useless.

The "Final 130" in 2020 is what really peaked my interest as I assumed MB was only producing the final S 65 in the Black/Bronze special edition package but NO... I found at least one 2020 S 65 that is NOT in the black color "Final 130" package but white exterior and tan interior. I was curious as to how many 2020 S 65 models were produced that were NOT part of the "Final 130". I can't find any data but would love to see the breakdown by year as well as by color.

I don't know the exact numbers but I do know that most of the S 65's built were either Black, White, or some form of Silver/Gray. I did hear that MB only makes less than 200 S 65's each year so the number of units that are Red, Blue, or Green must be the unicorns with very low production numbers.

 

No one knows the S65 counts but it is knowable if someone wanted to do all the work to pull the data. It is possible because it has been done for the SL65. We can get some reasonable approximations from the SL65 data. Assuming the question is for W222 S65's, the R231 SL65 is a close match. R231 was 2013 through 2018, W222 was 2014 through 2020.
The total number of R231 SL65's sold world wide was 649, 395 were US delivery. Slightly more than half of those totals was the 2013 model year. As for exterior colors, 46 of the 649 total were some shade of blue, 31 were some shade of red, 7 were matte yellow-orange.
I have talked to some dealers about S65 vs SL65 sales. Their data suggested about double the number (or maybe a bit more) S65's were sold than SL65's. They said the number of S65 sales tanked when the 4.0/9 speed was put in the S63. As for Carbon Ceramic brakes, less than 1/3 of the 649 total made had them, but almost 50% of the post facelift cars had them (67 out of 149.)
I know this is not what the OP asked for but it is the only complete and verified data set I have ever seen for an AMG model line.

 

No One???...Mercedes Benz knows the numbers but they have made a conscious effort to guard those numbers and therefore have not posted any total production numbers for quite a few years now let alone a breakdown of colors.

That is a terrible assumption IMO. The W222 is not a "close" match to the R231 for any reason other than they both had low production numbers but that is no reason or basis to extrapolate actual quantities.

Perhaps the sales data "some dealers" shared with you was their own sales data and therefore does not indicate the actual production numbers (that MB has not published)??? I find it hard to believe the (more than double) claim due to the known fact that there were less than 200 W222 AMG S 65 produced each year between 2014-2020. If true, that would indicate a theoretical production quantity of 50 or less each year for the SL65. Perhaps that is a close estimate to reality but still talking about sales versus production numbers which are very different.

US sales numbers for the last 18 years of the SL are shown on it's wiki page based upon referenced published articles. No breakdown like you have for engine or color choices and I think the quantities are an estimate at best.

Appreciate the input of the SL data but I don't think it really helps us who want to know specifically about W222.179 S 65 production numbers.

 

Very true as it took quite some time for me to finally find the unicorn I was looking for in Ruby Black Metallic with Nut Brown interior. Interior colors were as limited as the exterior as 90% were Black or Cream colored. The Ruby Black Metallic changes dramatically based upon the light. Full sun it looks like a deep burgundy but at night it looks black. The in-between light/dark period is when the color shifts to almost a brown color like a root beer. I love it

 

I said the W222 S65 and the R231 SL65 are a close match because the number of production years only differs by one, they are both AMG V12 biturbos, they cost about the same when similarly equipped (SL65 is about $15k less), and they are both low production cars competing for sales with the '63 V8 version of the car.
The SL65 production numbers are factual as are all the options and colors by individual vehicle. This was all assembled from factory data and is posted here on MBWorld. Look for yourself in the R231 AMG subforum. Its the post titled "Facelift SL65 Production Numbers?." All the final data is in post 19.
Excluding the 2013 model year, the average SL65 worldwide production and sales (they are equal) was 51/year. More than half of all the R231 SL65's were 2013's. Adding in 2013 production makes the average 108 worldwide. For just the US the average for all years is 66, excluding 2013 the US average for SL65's is 40/year.
Looking only at US delivery and sales, the double number estimate yields an average of 80 US delivered S65's/year for all sales years (2014 through 2020.) Again, this seems a reasonable number, probably slightly low. I have no idea what is meant by "sales versus production numbers are very different. They are the same. With the exception of one or two cars that were unsold prototypes (or production pilot cars) all cars made were sold. The SL65's that were factory pilot cars and not sold were accounted for in the data discussed above.
Separately, I have never seen an S65 in ruby black but I have seen an S63 with that color on a dealer lot but it had a black interior. Almost all the S65's I have seen are black or gray. I have seen two white ones, one of which was the infamous white with classic red interior 2019 at the Long Beach dealer that was ordered through the Manufactur program. Its sticker was $335k, and at the time the dealer would not negotiate on it. My wife, who usually likes red cars wanted no part of it.

 

I respect your opinion but when you use the word "Match", it connotes a message that the items compared are the same.
When you use the qualifier "Close", it then indicates the items must be almost identical and could be interchanged without notice.
IMO it is impossible to exchange a R123 with a W222 without anyone noticing. So while you can compare apples to oranges they are not a match let alone being a close match unless you're just comparing shapes (even then I would not say they are a close match).

Common knowlegde to the auto industry that most are aware that ALL manufacturers produce more vehicles than are ever sold. Not talking about prototypes or pre-production vehicles to set up a new assembly line.
Manufacturers produce many vehicles on the same assembly line that are never sold. Some are kept for testing and analysis. Some are kept because they have issues. So many reasons for manufacturers to set units aside to sort out later in an effort to determine what went wrong. You would be surprised at some plants just how many of the vehicles staged outside the plant are waiting to be repaired.

There are also the vehicles that the manufacturer keeps just to keep and never sold. Also the dealerships that are owned by "car guys" have many vehicles are technically never sold or titled. They get a car and put it away in their collection. I personally know a couple GM dealership owners that have a huge collection of these types of never titled vehicles in their collection.

So based upon my first hand experience working with multiple manufacturers at the assembly plants, I can say without hesitation that production numbers NEVER equal the sales numbers for any vehicle manufactured in the USA over the past 50 years.

 

Hey thank you for the info. I do look at sl65's from time to time but I've never found a non-crashed, carbon brake, low mileage, colour sl65 yet. That's good that the s65 was slightly higher production numbers. I will be patient. There is no rush to purchase. I could always get the car repainted but I'd rather not. I think a black (non metallic) car could be repainted fairly easy because you could ignore the engine bay. A black engine bay on a green/dark red car would be fine. Door jambs and trunk would be done. Would cost a fortune nowadays but it's a long term car. I would fall over dead if amg made another real s65 that didn't have AWD or a hybrid system.

 

RBM is a great colour. A little too dark for me but I do love seeing them. Somebody in town was bringing a RBM s580(? I can't remember if it was the 6 or 8 cyl now) into our dealer for service. Always liked seeing that car.

I am far less picky about the interior. Exterior colour is the most important. I would like to avoid the carbon fiber interior trim (silly to have carbon fiber inside a 5000lb car if you ask me). And if I could avoid black that would be nice but I'm flexible.

 

SemperFi, I trust you know far better than I do what the large volume US manufacturers typically do. Keep in mind my only reason for posting the R231 SL65 data was to share some information on paint colors. If the S65 data was available the OP could have used that, but MB has never released the data. It is possible to generate the S65 information as Joe did for the SL65's. Maybe one day someone will take that on and post it here.
I trust you looked at all the posts Joe made in the thread I listed, it explains in detail how he completed the task and verified the results. All the SL65's that were built are in the data, sold or not. As long as they were given a VIN or a FIN they are included. Were they given a VIN it is almost certain they are still not in Germany. Those cars would have FIN's.The paint color trends for the SL65 will not match the S65 because the available colors were different. The ratio of black+gray+silver to all other colors is likely similar, the S65 maybe has fewer bright color cars sold than the SL convertible.

 

I have asked along with others about the breakdown of production numbers by color but like everyone has found, the numbers are only speculative.
I thought it might be fun to ask AI the question and the image attached is what I got in response. Notice how the reply makes reference to this website for data???

 

Very true and the few available are quickly vanishing. I just checked AutoTempest (which covers all car sites in USA) and here is the breakdown of what is for sale this morning:

2014-16 Pre-Facelift
6 cars for sale
All have excess of 37k miles
3 Black
2 Gray/Silver
1 White

2017-20 Post-Facelift
4 cars for sale
3 with 45k miles and 1 with 17k miles
2 Black and 2 White
All are 6 figure cars except one 2017 that's been modified so it's going to be hard to sell especially with 45k miles and the "Clown Face" steering wheel.
There was a single 2020 "Final 130" S65 for sale online with about 1k miles but now is gone and most likely sold even though the asking price was $200k

Good luck trying to find a 2017-2020 that's not Black, White or even Silver.

I thought the 2020 S65 were all built with the "Final 130" color scheme but it appears there are at least a couple built that were not the Black/Bronze package. There has now been two accounted for that were not the "Final" package, one in Black and one in White. I have a copy of the window sticker for the white one. My quest was to find out how many 2020 S65's were built that were not the "Final 130" package. I'm sure it's possible to research and investigate like the member did for the SL models but I'm not that determined to the time to solve that puzzle.

So if your looking for the last version of a W222.179 in Black or White you might get lucky but if you want any other color.... Sorry, All SOLD OUT.

 

For the USA, 18-20 is post facelift in the W222, not 2017. And I the term "facelift" is not really accurate because the vast majority of the changes are mechanical. But the years are 2014-2017, and 2018-2020.

 

You're right Carlos, I had that wrong for the facelift revision. Thanks for catching my mistake and for the correction.

Strange thread post by member @M760i recently but now appears to have disappeared. Don't think he is a bot as he posted several times but now they are gone. Strange, very strange.

 

My database on MB vehicles started with the SL65, because I own one, but has grown to include other AMG models as well as some non-AMG models with V12 engines.

The base source of the data is the MB EPC (Electronic Parts Catalog), which amazingly has FINs and build data on pretty much every vehicle MB made starting from the early 90's and up to the 2019 model year. Beyond that MB has gone strictly online with their apps, so we will be deprived of data on 2020 vehicles and beyond. MB is pretty secretive with production data. The only official source of data from MB that I'm aware of is their public archive Mercedes Public Archive. It contains some gross totals for most models, but not all.

Here are reports I ran from my database on the S65 Coupe and S65 Sedan. I have found it to not be 100% complete, but it's close.

These are currently the only S models that I have pulled data for.

 

MB 040 Gloss Black is the only proper color for an S Class. I said what I said.

 

Joe, thanks for posting the S65 data. I checked for my two S65’s, a W220 and the W222. Hopefully one day the A217 will appear.
I found the 2015 S65 with no problem. It is one of the six 197 Obsidian Black Metallic cars made with the 985A Silk Beige/Titanium Gray Pearl Designo Semi-Analine interiors.

The 2006 S65 appears to be not listed. Mine was 567 Bordeaux Red exterior with the 274 Java interior. Pictures below. The only 2006 I saw on the list with 567U exterior paint is called Titanite Red Metallic. Its interior is 584A exclusive leather (brown.) Could that be my car?

 

Good question! It does appear to be your vehicle, but I can't explain the difference in the interior code. The 274A code does exist and in 2007 the description was changed to "brown":

274A 0000-00-00 LEATHER, JAVA
274A 2007-06-05 LEATHER - BROWN

I chased down the one vehicle that was in the combo report and generated the build sheet. It has the correct paint code but uses an interior code 584A (which is also brown).

So, it's just a question of whether it has your VIN. I know some people don't like their VINs posted here. If you'd like to see the build sheet of that vehicle for comparison then I can post it here or send it to an email address. Let me know.

 

Joe, I have sold the 2006. I have no issue posting the VIN if I can find it. My wife has shredded all paperwork on that car. I may be able to get it from the MB dealer service manager.
I did some additional research and found the 2006 DOG, two pages posted below. Note that the code for a Java interior for an S350 is 274, however, the S65 code for Java was 588. These are in fact different leathers, the one I had was a top end semi-analine leather, the S350 was the standard pebbly leather. Note the 584 interior in an S65 is Charcoal.
I will try to find the VIN for my car, the one listed might not be it.

 

It appears that the descriptions in my database for codes 584 and 588 are flipped. Here's what's in the data:
Code Date Description
588A 0000-00-00 LEATHER, EXCLUSIVE - GREY
588A 1996-07-25 EXCL. ALPACA GRAY/SLATE GRAY D/ALCANTARA S LEATHER
588A 2000-08-22 EXCLUSIVE LEATHER - GRAY

584A 0000-00-00 EXCLUSIVE JAVA AMG LEATHER
584A 2003-05-21 EXCLUSIVE LEATHER - BROWN

The data I have comes from the MB EPC application, but if those are official MB brochures then it's hard to argue with them. I guess I'll make the correction in the data.

Here's the build sheet on the vehicle in question.

 

That was our Bordeaux/Java 2006 S65. My wife found the serial number on a copy of the vehicle registration attached to our tax return. In California, the “tax” amount of the annual registration fee is deductible on the federal return, so there it was. All the option codes listed match our car, even the 262 Parktronic delete. I have no idea what the 221B Gray fabric is. It was nothing visible in the car.

 

Joe, can you also post the build sheet for our 2015 S65? The VIN is WDDUG7KB5FA095040. Thanks.

 

Could it have been the headliner?

 

The 2006 S600 and S65 had Alcantara on the pillars, visors and ceiling. It was the same color as the lighter Java color. It can be seen on the A pillar in the interior picture I posted above. Perhaps it will remain an MB mystery where that fabric was used.
At the time the Alcantara was nice compared the the other MB's, but the leather on the W222 S65's is far better.

 

Here's build sheet and stats report....