MBRay1964

The release of the new SL has just been pushed back till July

mkraft3003

My dealer hasn’t received any notifications of that yet. Where did that info come from? I do know their first car is sitting at the port, which is typical for a new release.

Miki-SL500

Can anyone confirm the delay?

mkraft3003

I asked my dealer again and they still have not heard anything about a delay. They still understand it to be a May release.

Alan Smithee

Dealer gave me a VIN yesterday...still on schedule to be built next week. No word of a delay, although the cars will go no further than the VPC at the port without pricing...that's where the Monroney stickers go on. Could also be EPA certification delays with a new model, which as was mentioned above is not unusual.

Tifoso48

I was given an April 14 " build " - have not heard of delay and hope it is just a rumor!!

mkraft3003

So far the only source of the rumor is the OP.

Tifoso48

Got my VIN # today - so looks like good to go - fingers crossed!

iridium18

Great News !

BACnMercedes

Still no pricing!!!!! Come on MB. I need to know.

Tifoso48

Totally agree - this is ridiculous ! How come the UK and Germany have had their prices for weeks?

However, I do remember the same thing happened when they released the AMG GTS in 2015 - it took forever and a day!

mkraft3003

Got my vin today and the car is at the port in Germany (price is a low $999,999). They are not releasing them on to vessels yet and The car will not be released in the US until it passes all of the certifications. This could take weeks or months, especially on a new model. Let’s hope we are still on pace for may release.

Wolfman

The bigger question will be the actual release of vehicles from VPC. Our last SL was delayed by 2 months, one of the first facelift R231 models. Our E63s Edition1 sat at VPC for 6 months (new model launch)

mkraft3003

Agreed. I’ve also had new models sit for many months waiting to be released from VPC.

BACnMercedes

So what, or who, holds them up and why? Why wouldn’t these things be cleared before they even come off the line. Seems more logical.

mkraft3003

EPA/CARB certification and approval process is one thing that holds it up. Here is a link to the EPA site and also a link to another forum where it was discussed when a new Porsche was released. They have to keep the production line moving and finished cars will pile up at the port until approval.
https://www.epa.gov/ve-certification

https://rennlist.com/forums/992-gt3-...-epa-carb.html

sansan

I have the first SL63 from my dealership but when looking at the system it has a production date of 01/01/23. Does that make any sense to any of you? It was just accepted into the Mercedes system today.

California John

Photos please. What is the configuration? Or is it not received yet!

Tifoso48

Did you by any chance used to drive an AMG GTS Edition 1 and did you go to the GT Driving Experience in Desert Springs in late 2014?

BACnMercedes

@mkraft3003 i understand what would be required of vehicles for the EPA, but I would have just thought that will all that goes into designing a new car, the most of these test would have been completed before they come off the assembly line and therefore be ready to go straight to customers. It just seems backwards to make the vehicle and then have them get tested and hope they pass or have to change/fix something.

Wolfman

The blame for delay goes to government bureaucracy rather the manufacturer unfortunately.

Mercedes doesn’t do a great job keeping their customers informed and the early buyers wait the longest. I think Porsche is a bit better there but the wait is just as long.

mkraft3003

To also add, things got a lot tougher after the VW diesel scandal a few years ago. It seams like when a new model comes out for any car there is a long delay. The car manufacturer does everything on their end but the bureaucracy ties it up as Wolfman stated.

Tifoso48

Just checked out what the information is for Germany.

So, the Configurator for Germany was opened in March and orders were taken since then.

Latest information is that deliveries there will start in June, so I would imagine it is going to be around that time in the USA .

silverclky

According to my dealer, MB is witholding pricing in the US as they go through the order numbers. Apparently there is talk of an 'edition 1 reborn' version which will be $20-25k more than the expected MSRP with some extra badging and stitching. Then once those orders are fulfilled, pricing will normalize. It seems MB is taking notice of all the dealer markups and getting into that game.

All taken with a grain of salt as the sales mgr said it's purely speculation among dealers as to why pricing hasn't been released yet but taking orders. The dealers also will not be receiving units unless they're customer ordered.

superswiss

As said above, it's normal for the initial builds of a new model year or all new model to sit at the VPC for months. Can be as long as 6 months from past experience. MB can't legally sell them until they are fully homologated and certified by EPA/CARB and that bureaucracy can take months. The process has gotten longer actually due to the diesel scandal. It didn't use to take this long. The production starts way before they can actually legally sell the cars here. If pricing hasn't even been released then that's on top of it all. Cars won't be delivered to customers until pricing is released and the EPA/CARB has signed off on them. All you can do is wait. Dealerships will get notified once the cars are officially released. They have no control or insight when that will happen.