2012 Mercedes SL63 AMG: Official photos and more detail

Silver 2012 Mercedes SL63 AMG on open road

First official photos of the 2012 Mercedes SL63 AMG

The 2012 Mercedes SL63 AMG – revealed yesterday at Barcelona – gets up to 557bhp with Performance Package. New official Photos.

Yesterday Mercedes-Benz sneaked out the first look at the 2012 Mercedes SL63 AMG, with Messrs Schumacher and Rosberg arriving for the unveiling of the 2012 Mercedes F1 car in matching SL63 AMGs. And now we get the first official photos – with many more to come, we’re sure – and a bit more detail.

Ins standard form the new SL63 AMG gets 530bhp from its 5.5 litre twin-turbo V8, which is enough to get the big SL to 62mph in 4.2 seconds. But you can opt for the AMG Performance Package which ups the power to 557bhp and cuts the 0-62mph to 4.1 seconds. The top speed also goes up from a limited 155mph to 186mph.

Under the skin is the same aluminium and magnesium structure that cuts weight in the whole 2012 SL range, but the SL63 AMG gets a tweaked setup with four link front suspension and multi-link rear with recalibrated active springs and dampers. Power is sent to the rear wheels through the AMG seven-speed Speedshift auto ‘box with launch control – Race Start, in Mercedes-speak.

The usual AMG butchness is dialled in to the new SL63, with an extensive body kit which doesn’t go over the top but does appear to be more purposeful than previous iterations of the SL63 (or SL55).

Mercedes has dished up the first official photos of the 2012 SL63 AMG in the gallery below. The 2012 SL63 AMG will get its official debut at Geneva next month.