Mercedes-Benz Ends SLR McLaren Production

WITH THE RECENT introduction of the SLS AMG, Mercedes-Benz has today announced the retirement of the SLR, developed in partnership with McLaren.

Officially the SLR has reached the end of its limited 2000 unit run, with the last SLR Stirling Moss Edition cars being assembled at McLaren’s Woking production facility.

Introduced in 2004, the SLR was designed to evoke the feeling of Mercedes’ classic 1950s race cars.

Five different variants of the SLR - which stands for Sport, Leicht, Rennsport (Sport, Light-weight, Raceworthy) - have been produced over its production span.

Two coupes, two roadsters and finally the roofless, windscreenless Stirling Moss Edition, with just 75 units of the bespoke model to be produced.

Under the bonnet, a full 50 centimetres behind the front axle line, lies a supercharged 5.5 litre V8 producing 460kW of power @6800 rp, and 780Nm of torque from 3250 to 5000rpm in its standard trim.

The lighter Stirling Moss increases output to 478kW, sprinting to 100 km/h in 3.5 seconds and reaching a top speed of 350 km/h.

With the last car to be completed by the end of December, the end of SLR production marks the dissolution of the manufacturing agreement between McLaren and Mercedes-Benz.

Mercedes is preparing to introduce its new SLS AMG supercar, developed in house by its AMG performance division. McLaren is also readying its own internally developed MP4-12C coupe.