Richard

(NB, this is the UK - right-hand-drive new SL launch info)

The dealers now have a document showing launch dates, pricing, options and designo information for the new SL.

The document is dated yesterday, and I made some notes :-)

UK Launch (on sale date) for SL500 is 4th April 2002.
Wholesale embargo date is 18th March

(I think this means the dealers will receive the first cars between 18th March and 4th april, nothing to be registered 'til 4th April)

SL500, 57184.94 (basic) 67,150 incl VAT
SL55, 75234.04 (basic) 88,400 incl VAT

(the on-the-road package needs adding @ 640 inc vat)

Production of the SL55 will start from June 2002

There is no RHD speedo that goes above 155mph, so they wont remove the speedlimiter. (This is actually same as other AMG models, my CLK55 speedo and my friends S55 only goes to 160)

Designo programme for SL from April 2002 production onwards.

Option pricing, incl VAT (for SL500)
Exclusive nappa, 2310
Distronic, 1800
Parktronic 775
Garage-door-opener 180
Wood/Leatehr shift 150
Wood/Leather steering wheel 554
Linguatronic 310
Comfort seats 610
Dynamic massaning multi-contour seats (pair) 740
Tyre pressure monitoring 470
Alloy wheels 5 spoke 18" 1400
Fire extinguisher, 105
Prep,. for roof carrying system 60
Chestnut wood, no cost
Black ash wood, no cost
Aluminium trim, no cost
AMG styling 2800
AMG 5 spoke wheels 1830
Bose Soundsystem 560
Fixed phone, 590
Nokia 6210, 590
TV tuner, 810
Keyless go, 970

Options for SL55, all same price as above except where noted
Distronic, Parktronic, GarageDoorOpener
Linguatronic, Comfort Seats
Tyre pressure monitor
Fire extinguisher, Prep for roof carrier
AMG 5 spoke wheels *** NO COST ***
Fixed Phone. Mobile Phone, TV Tuner, Keyless Go

As you can see from above, UK cars have COMAND, Xenon, ABC, Seat heaters, metallic paint, memory seats etc as standard.
And SL55 has Bose and multi-contour seats as stanard


Designo Paint.
Normal designo colours cost 850 inc vat
Varicolors/mystic-blue/mystic-red cost 1450
Chromoflair, 3300

Designo leather
Single tone, 2390
Two-tone, 2390
Single-tone Exclusive, 4690 (ouch!)
Two-tone exclusive, 4690
Roof lining in alacantara 1120 (no cost with designo exclusive leathers)

Designo Trim
Woods, 850
Designo Stone, 2390 (yes, this really is stone)
Shift lever wood 200
Shift lever in stone 320
Steering wheel wood, (not on SL55) 650
Steering wheel stone (not on SL55) 1080

Mr. Xristo

If production of the UK SL55 will start in June 2002, then why do people expect to see the SL55 AMG in the USA in August 2002???

Richard

Because the Left Hand Drive production has already started, [and deliveries started], theres not much to do to make a european l-h-d car into a US car
Making a LHD car into a RHD one seems to be more difficult :-(

R

Doody

the boats aren't THAT slow, dude :-)

i've heard told that the current delays and times between port delivery and port release have a lot to do with the fact that dealerships are clueless and they're in training right now.

there are apparently already SL500s in port in the US, but they're not being released yet.

so the timeframe b/w start of production and delivery is being oddly extended - that shouldn't be the case for the SL55.

of course i may not know jack about what i'm spouting off on :-)

doody.

Richard

I would also imagine that MB want to do the launch with a reasonable amount of cars (i.e 2-3 per dealership) so they need to stockpile a few (i.e a demo car, and 1-2 for customers)

I know that my MB dealer in the UK has spec'ed 3 cars, which they expect to be ready for the 1st deliveries on Apr 4

Cheers

Richard

Mr. Xristo

hmm... I think the USA will only be shipped 200 - 300 SL55's per year?!?

anyone else read this figure somewhere?? If so, I am wondering if some dealers will even receive one..

jco-amg

My Dealer....MB Manhattan....said the allocation would be roughly equivelant to the CL 55...he told me the numbers....but I forgot them.

Doody

i thought i heard 9000 or so SL500s, and SL55s would be about 10% that number - so 900ish.

but everybody's just ginning that stuff up at this point. DC is going to err on the side of caution with the SL55 and underproduce until they really know what demand is (just like PAG basically did with the 996TT - they didn't double the production number until solidly into the process and they could really gauge demand (IMO)).

doody.