Mercedes-Benz’s SLR McLaren “Speedster”

Well, looks like Mercedes is going at it again.

The SLR McLaren is a fantastic supercar, combining the luxury, quality, and technical precision of Mercedes with the performance prowess of McLaren. The car can hit 208 mph, accelerates from 0-60 in 3.6 seconds, has 617 horses and 575 pound-feet of torque. That all sounds good, until you hit the price tag of around $500,000. Sales never matched expectations, and have been steadly dropping off.

To remedy that, Merc has been releasing several variants of the SLR (e.g. 722 Edition and the Roadster), but sales haven’t started the climb up. It looks like they are going to give it one last try, in the most hardcore version yet.

What you see above is artist Jon Sibal’s impression of what the SLR “Speedster” (not official name) looks like. This was the result of his prodigious artistic talent when applied to deciphering a series of camouflaged spy shots. I can’t vouch for the accuracy, but it looks pretty darn good to me. No official specs yet, but if Sibal’s picture is any indication, it’ll be just beastly (check out the wider and more aggressive bodywork, the roof (or lack of) and those extreme side exhaust vents).

Filed Under: Concept cars • McLaren • Mercedes-Benz