docsout

Any thoughts on why we have not seen any SL mules? Strange to me.

Streamliner

Maybe because they look just like an AMG GT?

E55Greasemonkey

SL sales have been declining every model year since 2011 or so. The 231 was never a big seller, even though it was a much better car than the 230, and a whole new chassis, it simply looked like a facelift to the public. Maybe MB will discontinue the line. They seem more interested in selling entry level overpriced junk as of late.

Streamliner

[QUOTE=E55Greasemonkey;8119933]SL sales have been declining every model year since 2011 or so............./QUOTE]

IMO, a few major reasons for that:

1. The R230 ran from 2003 through 2012, a TEN year run, which was way too long. By the time the R231’s showed up, many SL drivers—who were mostly quite well heeled and longing for a new car—had jumped to Porsche & other makers for something fresh & exciting. I also believe that the 2009 facelift was horrible and not well done at all.

2. The R230’s had ABC standard and drove like a dream. Many R230 owners, test driving the new R231 models with no ABC AND run flat tires, just had to be really disappointed in the ride quality. Much firmer, sometimes harsh and a long way from the ride quality of the R230’s. Sure, ABC was available on the new cars, but at $4K+ for the option, virtually no dealer ordered it for a stock car and almost nobody got to test drive a car with the magnificent option. In addition, salespeople did everything they could to talk people OUT of ordering ABC.

3. With MBUSA choosing to only import the AMG Sports Pkg. R231’s, many SL shoppers were turned off by the odd front end styling, I know I was. The 2017 face lift fixed that, but by then, sales had pretty much fallen off the cliff.

4. Could the available SL colors be any MORE unexciting? So many interior choices and SO many of them fairly shocking, rather than rich looking.

5. Lastly when Daddy Warbucks took his 22 year old “friend” into the showroom and she cranked up the sound system, she let out a scream and said “snookums, I would really rather have the Porsche—pretty please?”

I know several here will disagree, but that’s OK, it’s just all my opinion.

TennesseeZ4

5. Lastly when Daddy Warbucks took his 22 year old “friend” into the showroom and she cranked up the sound system, she let out a scream and said “snookums, I would really rather have the Porsche—pretty please?”

Now that is funny! True, but funny!

Wolfman

There is a new SL coming next year as the 2022 model but as stated previously, it is based on the next generation AMG GT platform and the the only high-end Mercedes convertible. The S-Class cabriolet has been discontinued, the AMG GT roadsters will be discontinued and I heard that both the C-Class and E-Class cabriolets are also on the chopping block.
So, it may be the ONLY Mercedes convertible...

places

That seems to be the messaging. SL will be the only convertible. CLS might also be in jeopardy. We may end up with GT and SL and the only "coupe" (although SL technically is a roadster) style MB cars.

Streamliner

It’s hard to believe that there will be no AMG GT drop top. If the SL will, indeed, be the only MB convertible, then they surely should have kept the retractable hard top. The new Lexus has a soft top, as does virtually every other luxury convertible out there, with the exception of the Ferrari Portofino. MB & Ferrari would have been in a very exclusive club of their own. Oh well.

Wolfman

There just isn’t space for two convertibles based on the AMG GT platform. Mercedes has also decided, amplified by this pandemic and changing times, to take the brand upstream. Fewer cheaper models, more high-end cars. Even if many bemoan the loss of the hard top, the next SL will be truer to its original than the latest iterations...

places

More upstream? That would be great.

So which lower lines are being discontinued? A, B, GLA, GLC, CLA, GLB?

What new higher end cars will they be introducing?

I would love to see MB go back to its routes and build quality products that might not be for everyone, as opposed to attempting to have their product in every driveway in the world. Thus brand dilution.

Wolfman

Well, it seems that Mercedes is not quite so radical. The C & E Class coupe and cabriolet get mothballed but instead they are merging the two models to make a CLE out of it (coupe & cab.). That would be a resurrection of the CLK...

Streamliner

Yes, I agree on “brand dilution.” The dealer where I get my servicing done, is a huge Sprinter dealer and the service lanes, as of late, have been filled with these ELEPHANTS, changing the entire feeling of the area. I have long felt that if MB is going to produce more and more utility and downscale vehicles, they should split the dealerships: One place for E Class and above vehicles—with a very upscale atmosphere—and another for lower end passenger vehicles, Sprinters, etc.

Streamliner

I’m sorry Wolf, but for me, the argument that the SL is going back to its roots, just doesn’t cut it. The 300SL’s of the 1950’s & early 60’s, were an anomaly in the history of the cars. After 1963, the SL’s became, for the most part, luxury cruisers and left their competition and super high performance heritage behind. Almost all of the SL’s built from 1964 onward, had virtually nothing in common with the SL’s built before then, other than the SL designation, meaning “Super Leicht” or “Super Light.” By the time the 1972 R107 came along, any thought that the SL’s were anything even approaching a “light weight” sporting car was a bad joke, as the cars were referred to internally at MB as “Panzer Wagons,” due their very heavy and solid build quality.

So, most all of us here know SL’s as heavy, solid, safe, comfortable, convertible cruisers. Sure, compared to most other vehicles out there, SL’s appear to be—and indeed are—“sporty” cars, but the thought of AMG injecting their special brand of fairly outrageous DNA into the new SL model is something that doesn’t sound appealing to this long time SL driver. MB has been my “pusher” and has gotten me addicted to the SL brand over the past 45+ years. Now, they are saying that my drug of choice will be different and I’m already feeling the first signs of withdrawal. Here’s hoping that the “new & improved” AMG built SL will not stray too far from its REAL, post 1963 roots.

My first SL, a 1972 350SL, Signal Red with Bamboo interior:




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Wolfman

I loved all our SL's, the slow and the fast ones. Our AMG GTC checks all the boxes at the moment and it is our backup if the next SL isn't up to par. Nothing wrong with having one gas guzzling roadster in the garage in the upcoming age of EV's