Thursday, April 22, 2010

What's wrong with the Mercedes SLS AMG?

It seems that Mercedes has built a great car with the Mercedes SLS AMG. Reading the latest issue of Auto Motor und Sport the car must be brilliant. It accelerates in 3.9 secs from 0 to 100 km/h, reaches a top speed of 317 km/h and is faster than a Porsche 911 GT3 in some of the handling disciplines, despite of the 1'685 kg heavy weight. The looks is okay too, most people really like the car. The price is a bit far away from reality, especially if you add a few extras. 223'006 Euros has to be given over the counter for the AMS test car (base price, unloaded, 177'310 Euros). But that's comparable to a Ferrari 458 or a Lambo, it seems to be okay.
What makes me worry is the enormous marketing and public relation push Mercedes has created. I think I have never seen so many ads and (paid) press articles for a super car before! The marketing cost per sold car must be significant I would assume. Why do you need to spend so much money if the car is that great? We will probably know in one or two years, but something is wrong here, isn't it?

1 comment:

lupoch said...

I think I have an answer. They said they want to sell 4'000 units per year... A colleague of mines had pre-ordered one, and cancelled it when he read about the targeted sales, fearing that residuals would plummet...