Mercedes SLS AMG: the road cars, the GT3 racer and values

The Mercedes SLS AMG (Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, model codes C 197 and R 197) is the front-engined, gullwing-doored two-seat sports car built at Sindelfingen from January 2010 until 2014, the first car that Mercedes-AMG developed on its own. Its 6.2-litre V8 without turbochargers made 571hp (563bhp) in the first coupé and 631hp (622bhp) in the Black Series. Besides the coupé there were a Roadster, the GT, an all-electric coupé with four motors and the SLS AMG GT3 racing car. In 2013 the GT3 won the Dubai 24 Hours, the Bathurst 12 Hour, the Nürburgring 24 Hours and the Spa 24 Hours.

The rarest versions were made in single figures or hundreds (five GT3 "45th Anniversary" cars, nine Electric Drives for customers, 350 Final Editions), and 394 SLS AMGs are registered in the UK. On values, auction sales tracked by The Classic Valuer have a median of about £172,000, and a 251-mile coupé sold for $775,000 in July 2026.

History of the Mercedes SLS AMG

The SLS AMG was shown at the Frankfurt motor show (IAA) in September 2009 and went on sale in spring 2010, with styling taken from the 300 SL "Gullwing" of 1954. Daimler's first technical release of March 2009 called it the first vehicle developed in-house by the company in more than 40 years, and dated the start of design and development to the last quarter of 2006.

From the 300 SL to AMG's first car

The car was styled by Mark Fetherston, a Coventry University design graduate and team leader in exterior design at Sindelfingen. Speaking to Top Gear in December 2011, he said the idea of a new Gullwing was first proposed to the design department as quarter-scale models in 2005, and that the project "became serious in 2006 after AMG decided it wanted to build a supercar on its own". The company's design studios made six quarter-scale models; one was digitised and milled at full size, and the design was settled about six months into the project.

Its predecessor was the SLR McLaren, which Mercedes built with McLaren between 2003 and 2010; McLaren then went on alone to the 12C, 650S and P1, a SkiddMark report of April 2014 noted.

Launch at Frankfurt and the first road tests

Before Frankfurt, the factory released a film of a prototype lapping the Nürburgring Nordschleife in July 2009, and after the show a second film had the former DTM champion Bernd Schneider driving the car. A SkiddMark report on that film in November 2009 noted that most early reviews had been complimentary but that "there have been some rumours emerging of tricky on-limit handling and a shortage of steering feel", and gave the expected UK price as "a little over £150,000", with sales from June 2010.

The coupé reached European showrooms on 27 March 2010 and the UK on 1 July 2010, according to SkiddMark reports of that year. Daimler's launch campaign used the line "A cockpit. An engine. Two wings. Is it still a car?" and a television advert with Michael Schumacher first shown on 30 January 2010, according to Daimler's release on the campaign.

Production at Sindelfingen and Affalterbach

Production of the coupé, model code C 197, began at Sindelfingen in January 2010, according to Daimler's history of its super sports cars (May 2010). The SLS had its own assembly area in Sindelfingen, the largest Mercedes-Benz plant, and each V8 came from the AMG engine shop in Affalterbach, where one fitter built each engine by hand and signed its badge under AMG's "one man, one engine" rule.

What replaced the Mercedes SLS AMG?

The AMG GT replaced it. The SLS AMG GT Final Edition, the last version anyone could order, was presented in Tokyo and Los Angeles on 20 November 2013, with market launch from March 2014, and the AMG GT was unveiled on 9 September 2014. Daimler's launch release for the AMG GT said it used "the technological DNA" of the SLS: a front-mid engine with a seven-speed dual-clutch transaxle, here a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8.

Mercedes SLS AMG design and engineering

The SLS AMG has an aluminium spaceframe and body, a V8 mounted behind the front axle and the gearbox at the rear axle, which gives a weight distribution of 48 per cent front and 52 per cent rear and a DIN kerb weight of 1,620kg for the coupé. Daimler said in 2009 that it was the first time Mercedes-Benz and AMG had made a car with an aluminium chassis and body.

The gullwing doors

The doors are hinged in the roof, as on the 300 SL, and each has pyrotechnic elements on its hinges so that it can be released if the car comes to rest on its roof; Daimler's GT3 sales release of August 2010 and its 2011 VLN material say the racing car kept the same system, with four pyrotechnic elements fired by a switch or by an "Emergency Exit" ring at the foot of the windscreen.

Aluminium spaceframe

The coupé's spaceframe weighs 241kg and the Roadster's 243kg, according to Daimler's Roadster press kit of May 2011. Suspension is by double wishbones of forged aluminium at both ends, and the coupé rode on 9.5x19-inch front and 11x20-inch rear wheels with 265/35 R 19 and 295/30 R 20 tyres.

The M159 V8 engine

The engine, code M159, is a 6,208cc V8 with dry-sump lubrication, derived from AMG's M156 with a new intake system, a reworked valve train and camshafts, forged pistons and tubular steel headers. It was marketed as the "AMG 6.3-litre V8". In the first coupé it made 420kW (571hp, 563bhp) at 6,800rpm and maximum torque of 650Nm (479lb ft) at 4,750rpm, and weighed 206kg; dry-sump lubrication let it sit lower in the car. For efficiency the cylinder walls have a friction-reducing twin-wire-arc-sprayed (TWAS) coating, and Daimler quoted fuel consumption of about 13 litres per 100km.

Dual-clutch transaxle and torque tube

Power goes to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission at the rear axle (AMG SPEEDSHIFT DCT) through a carbon-fibre shaft spinning at engine speed inside a torque tube, a layout taken from the DTM C-Class racing car. A mechanical differential lock sits in the transmission casing, and there is no manual gearbox: the driver chooses between four driving modes (C, S, S+ and M, the last for shifts with the paddles) and a RACE START launch function. Three-stage stability control (ESP) is standard. The steering is rack-and-pinion with a constant 13.6:1 ratio and speed-sensitive power assistance, according to Daimler's 2011 Roadster press kit.

Interior of the SLS AMG

The interior was drawn to look like an aircraft cockpit, according to Daimler's Roadster press kit: a dashboard shaped like a wing, air vents with cross-shaped nozzles like jet engines, a centre console of matt solid metal and an E-SELECT gear lever shaped like a thrust lever. Trim came in leather, matt metal or carbon fibre, the AMG Performance steering wheel is covered in nappa leather and flattened at the bottom, and the AMG DRIVE UNIT on the console sets the gearbox and, where fitted, the damping. The GT added Alcantara on the sports seats with red seat belts and stitching, and offered diamond-quilted designo Exclusive STYLE leather in three colours for every SLS.

Mercedes SLS AMG specifications and performance

Every road-going SLS AMG with a petrol engine reaches 100km/h in 3.6 to 3.8 seconds and has a top speed between 315km/h (196mph) and 320km/h (199mph); the Electric Drive is limited to 250km/h (155mph).

The factory gives power in metric horsepower (PS); the figure in brackets is brake horsepower. The Black Series' top speed is lower than the GT's, and its kerb weight of 1,550kg is the lowest of the range.

How fast is the Mercedes SLS AMG?

The coupé's official top speed is 317km/h (197mph), electronically limited. In its test of the Black Series, Car and Driver measured 0–60mph in 3.2 seconds and a quarter-mile in 11.2 seconds at 128mph, with 0.98g on the skidpad. The steering "transmits road texture with little filtering", Car and Driver found, with grip it could use "with confidence". The Electric Drive lapped the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 7min 56.234sec in 2013, which SkiddMark reported in June that year as the first lap under eight minutes by an electric production car, beating the 8:09.099 of Audi's R8 e-tron.

Every version of the SLS AMG

There were six road versions, the coupé, the Roadster, the GT (as coupé or Roadster), the Black Series, the Electric Drive and the GT Final Edition, plus the GT3 racing car, which has its own section below. There were also show cars, such as the matt silk-gold "AMG Desert Gold" coupé shown at the Dubai motor show in December 2009, a colour so far used only on that car, according to Mercedes-Benz Italia's release.

SLS AMG coupé

The gullwing coupé was the only body until 2011 and the basis for the GT coupé, Black Series, Electric Drive and GT3. By November 2012 the UK price of the coupé was £168,425, according to a SkiddMark report. From the Frankfurt show of September 2011 the factory offered AMG RIDE CONTROL adaptive damping on coupé and Roadster at €2,320.50, with "Comfort", "Sport" and "Sport plus" modes.

SLS AMG Roadster

The Roadster (R 197) replaced the gullwings with ordinary doors and a three-layer fabric roof that opens or closes in 11 seconds at up to 50km/h. It was revealed on 29 May 2011, could be ordered from 1 June 2011 and cost €195,160 in Germany; Daimler's chairman Dieter Zetsche called it "a super sports car, cruiser and highly desirable dream-car all in one". With a DIN kerb weight of 1,660kg it is 40kg heavier than the coupé, and it has a cross-member behind the seats carrying fixed roll-over bars. Daimler's development release said the Roadster's endurance testing included 10,000km on the Nordschleife, with UK sales from November 2011.

SLS AMG GT

The SLS AMG GT of 2012 joined the range as a coupé and a Roadster with 435kW (591hp, 583bhp), quicker shifts in manual mode and a stiffer AMG RIDE CONTROL Performance suspension without a Comfort mode. Daimler's GT release of June 2012 gave German prices of €204,680 for the coupé and €213,010 for the Roadster, a market launch in October 2012 and CO2 emissions of 308g/km. In the GT the transmission shifts faster in manual mode and blips harder on downshifts. Darkened lights, red brake calipers and "GT" on the boot lid tell it apart.

SLS AMG Coupé Black Series

The Black Series is the lightest and most powerful petrol SLS. It makes 464kW (631hp, 622bhp) at 7,400rpm, the engineers raised the rev limit from 7,200 to 8,000rpm, and its DIN kerb weight of 1,550kg is a weight reduction of 70kg against the coupé. It was the fifth AMG Black Series after the SLK 55 (2006), CLK 63 (2007), SL 65 (2008) and C 63 Coupé (2011). Daimler's release of 9 November 2012 lists what changed: a titanium exhaust about 13kg lighter than the steel one, a carbon-fibre torque tube of 13.3kg in place of a 26.6kg aluminium one, a lithium-ion battery saving 8kg, carbon-ceramic brakes as standard, an electronically controlled rear differential, coil-over suspension, a track width 20mm greater at the front and 24mm at the rear, and wings 13mm (front) and 26mm (rear) wider on each side. The gearbox sits 10mm lower and blips the throttle on downshifts, the carbon-ceramic brakes weigh 16kg less than steel ones, and leaving out the COMAND screen, replaced by a carbon-fibre panel, saves another 6kg.

The German price was €249,900 from June 2013 and the American price $276,800; Car and Driver called it "the 21st-century edition Uhlenhaut Coupe".

SLS AMG E-Cell and Electric Drive

The battery-electric SLS began as the E-Cell prototype of July 2010 and went on sale as the SLS AMG Coupé Electric Drive in June 2013, at €416,500 in Germany. The E-Cell, shown in fluorescent "AMG lumilectric magno" paint, had four motors giving 392kW and 880Nm, a 48kWh battery and electro-hydraulic power steering.

The production car has four permanent-magnet motors of 45kg each, one near each wheel, giving 552kW and 1,000Nm, and a 400-volt, 60kWh battery of 864 cells weighing 548kg, built with Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains at Brixworth, the company that builds Formula One engines in Northamptonshire. Daimler's release of 27 September 2012 gave a range of 250km on the NEDC and a charge of about three hours from a 22kW wall box. Only nine went to customers, according to the German enthusiasts' site mbpassion.de (July 2022).

SLS AMG GT Final Edition

The Final Edition was the last SLS: 350 cars worldwide, coupé or Roadster, with the GT's 435kW engine, a carbon-fibre bonnet with a central vent, a carbon front splitter, the fixed carbon rear wing of the Black Series and an "AMG FINAL EDITION – 1 of 350" badge on the centre console. Mercedes-Benz Japan's release of 20 November 2013, a translation of Daimler's, put 25 of the 350 in Japan, 20 coupés and five Roadsters, at ¥29.8 million and ¥30.8 million.

The SLS AMG GT3 racing car

The SLS AMG GT3 is the customer racing version, built to the FIA's GT3 rules by AMG with HWA, the company that ran Mercedes' DTM team. It was unveiled at Puebla in Mexico at the end of March 2010, sold from August 2010 at €334,000 before VAT (€397,460 with German VAT), left-hand drive only, and delivered from February 2011.

How the GT3 differs from the road car

The GT3 has a sequential six-speed racing gearbox in the transaxle, a multi-disc locking differential and traction control, adjustable springs, dampers, ride height, anti-roll bars, track and camber, a steel roll cage, 18-inch centre-lock wheels, steel racing brakes with racing ABS, an air-jack system and, for safety, a 120-litre carbon-fibre fuel tank with an inner bladder. The driver's seat sits in a carbon-fibre safety cell bolted to the cage and spaceframe, as in Mercedes' DTM cars. The FIA set its maximum power under the Balance of Performance rules.

First races and the first season

The GT3 first raced on 25 September 2010 in a four-hour VLN race on the Nordschleife, with Bernd Schneider and Thomas Jäger; Schneider collided with another car on the second bend, and the car finished three laps down after 25 minutes of repairs, according to Daimler's report of 27 September 2010. Three cars ran in the Dubai 24 Hours of January 2011 for Black Falcon and Heico Motorsport.

At the 2011 VLN opener on 2 April, the Black Falcon car of Kenneth Heyer, Thomas Jäger, Jan Seyffarth and Jeroen Bleekemolen finished third behind two BMW M3 GTs, with SLS GT3s also fourth and seventh, according to a SkiddMark report of that day. Over 2011 the car won 26 races, and Heico Motorsport took the team title in the FIA GT3 European Championship, according to Daimler's release on the 45th Anniversary car.

Which major races did the SLS AMG GT3 win?

The SLS AMG GT3 won all four of the classic GT3 endurance races in 2013, and Daimler's Final Edition release of November 2013 counted more than 100 wins on five continents.

The 2012 Dubai win, the GT3's first in a 24-hour race, set a record distance of 628 laps, according to the VLN's report of 18 January 2012. The 2013 win came in a bought-in car: Al Qubaisi crashed the team's car in first practice, and the team bought another SLS from the British team Preci-Spark, "one of the first Mercedes SLS racecars produced in 2011", as he told the organiser Creventic in January 2023; Bleekemolen then put it on pole. At Bathurst the Erebus car won by a full lap, "the last time that has happened in Bathurst 12-Hour history", according to the race's own site in December 2021, which also records that the car is still owned by Erebus and was shown at the National Motor Racing Museum at Mount Panorama.

The Nürburgring win was the first for Mercedes in the race; the car started sixth and finished 2min 39sec ahead after 88 laps, with ROWE RACING's SLS GT3s third and fourth, according to Mercedes-Benz Italia's race release. Mercedes-AMG's chairman Ola Källenius said it had come "at only the third attempt". At Spa, the SRO's race report records Schneider's first Spa 24 Hours win since 1989, when he drove a Ford Sierra RS500, and his third 24-hour win of the season.

The year after, Black Falcon finished second at the Nürburgring, three minutes behind Phoenix Racing's Audi, after a penalty for a short pit stop; the number 1 car carried a tribute on its bonnet to Sean Edwards, who had been killed in an accident in Australia in late 2013, according to a SkiddMark race report of July 2014. In Britain the SLS GT3 raced in the British GT Championship from 2012; in 2015 Lewis Plato brought RAM Racing's SLS home fifth at Rockingham.

The SLS AMG GT3 "45th Anniversary"

The SLS AMG GT3 "45th ANNIVERSARY" is a special edition of five GT3 racing cars built by hand at Affalterbach in 2012 to mark 45 years of AMG, with engines installed by Bernd Schneider and sold to collectors at €446,250 each including German VAT. Daimler announced it on 8 October 2012 and showed it at the São Paulo motor show later that month. A SkiddMark report of 9 October 2012 asked whether a race car "all glammed up like a limited-edition road car" would ever be driven, or merely "feature as a trophy in a wealthy collector's garage".

Daimler's release described a car "aimed at car collectors with a particular penchant for motor racing". It was painted designo magno graphite matt, used until then only on the SL 65 AMG "45th ANNIVERSARY" shown in New York in April 2012, with wheels in the same colour and a silver-framed "45 Years of Driving Performance" logo on the doors. The doors, bonnet, wings, boot lid, aprons, splitter and diffuser are carbon-fibre reinforced plastic, and the weave shows through the matt paint on the doors. A second carbon-fibre seat shell was fitted on the passenger side, "1 of 5" badges sit on the seats and centre console, and each car came with an indoor cover.

Schneider, then 48, five-time DTM champion and 1997 FIA GT champion, had done most of the GT3's test driving. He helped the AMG engine fitter install each car's V8, and both men signed its engine badge; he also signed each car's certificate. Buyers collected their cars at Affalterbach with a factory tour and, on request, a coaching session on a track. By then, according to Daimler, 49 SLS AMG GT3s had been delivered to customers and the car had won 32 races in 2012.

The SLS AMG as the Formula One safety car

The SLS AMG was the official Formula One safety car from the 2010 season, replacing its predecessor, the SL 63 AMG, and Daimler's Final Edition release says the SLS AMG GT later took over the role from the Belgian Grand Prix. Bernd Mayländer drove it, with the FIA's Pete Tibbetts beside him, and Daimler's safety car release of March 2011 said its engine, gearbox, suspension and brakes were the same as the production car's; the differences were a roof light bar with a television camera, a carbon-fibre bonnet, carbon mirrors and two monitors in the cabin.

How many SLS AMGs were made?

Mercedes published no total. The published counts are for the limited versions: 350 GT Final Editions (Daimler), five GT3 45th Anniversary cars (Daimler), nine Electric Drives delivered to customers (mbpassion.de) and around 80 SLS AMG GT3s sold to customer teams by November 2014, according to the ADAC GT Masters series (17 November 2014). RM Sotheby's catalogue for a 2016 sale states that 132 Black Series cars were shipped to the United States, 30 of them in Solarbeam Yellow. The firmest figure for the ordinary cars is the British one: 394 SLS AMGs registered in the UK in mid-2026.

How many SLS AMGs are in the UK?

394 SLS AMGs were registered in the UK at the end of June 2026, 238 of them licensed for the road and 156 declared off the road (SORN), in the Department for Transport's vehicle licensing table VEH0120.

The total has stayed between 391 and 409 at the end of every year since 2014, while the number licensed fell from 366 at the end of 2014 to 205 at the end of 2025.

How much is a Mercedes SLS AMG worth?

A coupé in average condition is worth about £172,000 at auction: The Classic Valuer records a median of £172,403 across 244 SLS AMG sales, from a low of £69,377 to a high of £590,787, with 80 per cent of the cars offered finding a buyer. Its Roadster guide gives a lower median, £109,200 across 101 sales.

Record prices

The highest auction price in The Classic Valuer's records, and Bring a Trailer's SLS record, is the $775,000 paid on Bring a Trailer in July 2026 for a 2012 coupé with 251 miles, which Carscoops reported was confirmed by the site, the seller and Hagerty after bidders suspected a typing error; the site's previous SLS record was a Black Series at $755,000 in 2022. At RM Sotheby's, Black Series cars sold for $462,000 at Monterey in 2016 (315 miles) and $407,000 in 2020 (2,300 miles), and a Final Edition with less than 75km made £275,000 in London in 2019.

Owning an SLS AMG: tax, fuel, recalls and the gearbox

Every petrol SLS pays the top rate of UK vehicle tax, £790 a year: Daimler gave the coupé and Roadster 308g/km of CO2, the GT 308g/km and the Black Series 321g/km, all in band M (over 255g/km) on GOV.UK's table for cars registered from March 2001 to March 2017. Official combined fuel consumption is 13.2 litres per 100km (21.4mpg) for the coupé, Roadster and GT and 13.7 litres (20.6mpg) for the Black Series.

Has the SLS AMG been recalled?

No recall naming the SLS AMG appears in the DVSA's recalls file for the UK (downloaded 28 October 2026), which lists 961 Mercedes-Benz recalls for cars, vans, buses and trucks. An owner can check a single car by registration on GOV.UK's recall checker.

Gearbox, brakes and tyres

Early cars were criticised for slow shifts, and Mercedes offered a free software update for pre-2012 gearboxes in 2013, according to Autocar's 2020 used-car guide; a buyer should check it has been done. The GT's own recalibration is described in its section above. The carbon-ceramic brakes, optional except on the Black Series, are about 40 per cent lighter than the standard discs. Standard tyres are 265/35 R 19 front and 295/30 R 20 rear; the Black Series uses Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 in 275/35 R 19 and 325/30 R 20.

Rivals of the Mercedes SLS AMG

The SLS was sold against Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche: print adverts for it by the Hamburg agency Jung von Matt in July 2011 showed cars from all three in its mirror. The Ferrari 458 Italia went on sale in the same year as the SLS, 2010, a SkiddMark review of that year recorded. Against the Black Series a SkiddMark report set the McLaren 12C (616bhp), the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta (651bhp) and the SRT Viper (631bhp), and Car and Driver timed its quarter-mile at 11.2 seconds, the same as a Lamborghini Gallardo. A SkiddMark report of November 2013 said its successor would be "ready to take on the Porsche 911 Turbo".

How the Mercedes SLS AMG was received

Daimler counted 40 awards for the SLS by mid-2012, among them the German Design Award, the Red Dot Design Award and the Golden Steering Wheel of 2009, in its GT release. Car and Driver's first drive of the GT (13 November 2012) called the 6.2-litre engine's "wide power band, immediate throttle response, and instant surge of power and torque" among "the most impressive we've ever experienced", and its own test of the earlier coupé reached 60mph in 3.5 seconds. Its Black Series test of December 2013 found the ride "brutally stiff" and predicted the car would be "a shoo-in for the lawn at Pebble Beach in 2064".

Questions

Does the Mercedes SLS AMG have a manual gearbox?

No. Every petrol SLS has a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox mounted at the rear axle, with a manual mode worked by paddles behind the steering wheel.

Is the SLS AMG front-engined or mid-engined?

Front-mid-engined. The V8 sits behind the front axle and the gearbox at the rear axle, which gives a weight distribution of 48 per cent front and 52 per cent rear.

Can the SLS AMG Roadster roof be opened while driving?

Yes. The fabric roof opens or closes in 11 seconds at speeds up to 50km/h (31mph).

How long does the SLS AMG Electric Drive take to charge?

About three hours from Mercedes' 22kW wall box, or about 20 hours without it, according to Daimler's 2012 release.

How much did a new SLS AMG GT3 cost?

€334,000 before VAT, or €397,460 with German VAT, when sales opened in August 2010. The five 45th Anniversary cars of 2012 cost €446,250 each including VAT.

Who drove the SLS AMG Formula One safety car?

Bernd Mayländer, the FIA's safety car driver since 2000, with Pete Tibbetts of the FIA as co-driver.

What engine is in the Mercedes SLS AMG?

The M159, a 6,208cc naturally aspirated V8 with dry-sump lubrication, sold as the "6.3". It gives 571hp in the first coupé and Roadster, 591hp in the GT and 631hp in the Black Series.

Sources

• Mercedes-Benz (Daimler Global Media Site, archived copies), press releases: "Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG: high-tech and fascination" (12 March 2009: engine, weight, layout, development dates); "Is it still a car?": the campaign (28 January 2010); "2010: the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG" (14 May 2010: production start, safety car, GT3 unveiling, 317km/h); "SLS AMG E-CELL: the high-voltage gullwing" (5 July 2010); "Sales launch for the SLS AMG GT3" (11 August 2010: price, specification, testing, doors); "Racetrack premiere for the SLS AMG GT3" (27 September 2010: first race); "SLS AMG and new C 63 AMG Estate on standby in the Formula 1 World Championship" (22 March 2011: safety car); "Development of the new SLS AMG Roadster" (5 May 2011); "The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster" (29 May 2011: roof, weight, spaceframe, price); "The new SLS AMG GT" (5 June 2012: power, prices, CO2, awards, 2011 season); "SLS AMG Coupé Electric Drive" (27 September 2012: motors, battery, range, charging, price); "The new SLS AMG GT3 45th ANNIVERSARY" (8 October 2012) and its São Paulo premiere (22 October 2012: price); "The new SLS AMG Coupé Black Series" (9 November 2012) and Los Angeles Auto Show 2012 (28 November 2012: Black Series price); "The new Mercedes-AMG GT" (9 September 2014).
• Mercedes-Benz Japan, SLS AMG GT Final Edition release, 20 November 2013 (archived): 350 cars, Japanese allocation and prices, specification, GT3 record, safety car.
• Mercedes-Benz Italia, "24 Hours of Nürburgring: victory for Black Falcon AMG customer team", May 2013: result, drivers, quotes.
• SRO, "HTP Mercedes outmuscles Manthey Porsche for victory in the 65th Total 24 Hours of Spa", 28 July 2013.
• Bathurst 12 Hour, "12 Hour winners on show at Bathurst museum", December 2021: 2013 winners and margin.
• Creventic, "Interview: 2013 24H Dubai, 10 years on", January 2023: the 2013 Dubai win and the 2012 winners.
• Mercedes-Benz Italia, SLS AMG "Desert Gold" release, December 2009: the Dubai show car.
• VLN, "Triumph for Black Falcon at the Dubai 24h race", 18 January 2012: 2012 winners and distance.
• ADAC GT Masters, "Successor to SLS AMG GT3 due in 2016", 17 November 2014: around 80 GT3s sold.
• DVSA, vehicle recalls file, downloaded 28 October 2026: no SLS AMG recall listed.
• Top Gear, interview with Mark Fetherston, 16 December 2011 (archived): design history.
• Car and Driver, "2013 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT Coupe" first drive, 13 November 2012, and "2014 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series tested", Tony Quiroga, 10 December 2013: test figures, US price, verdicts.
• mbpassion.de, "Der SLS AMG Electric Drive ging nur an neun Kunden weltweit", July 2022: nine customer cars.
• Department for Transport, vehicle licensing statistics, table VEH0120 (UK, 2026 Q2), read 27 October 2026; counted with the script in this article's data notes.
• GOV.UK, vehicle tax rates for cars registered on or after 1 March 2001, read 27 October 2026.
• The Classic Valuer, buyer's guides for the SLS AMG and SLS AMG Roadster, read 27 October 2026: auction medians and records.
• RM Sotheby's lot records: Black Series, Monterey 2016; Black Series, SHIFT/Monterey 2020; GT Final Edition, London 2019.
• Carscoops, "People called this $775,000 SLS AMG bid a fat-finger, until the wire cleared", July 2026.
• SkiddMark reports: Video of Merc SLS AMG lapping the Nürburgring (July 2009); Video: Mercedes SLS AMG driven by Bernd Schneider (November 2009); Experience the Mercedes SLS AMG (2010); Mercedes-Benz showcases the SLS AMG GT3 (31 March 2010); Mercedes launches electric drive AMG SLS E-Cell (July 2010); Sideways Glance, review of 2010 (January 2011); BMW Motorsport claims a one-two finish at the Nürburgring (April 2011); SLS AMG Roadster: the Gullwing becomes a Hot Rod, and SLS AMG Roadster undergoes final testing (May 2011); Mercedes celebrates the 45th birthday of AMG with a limited-edition SLS AMG GT3 that won't be raced (9 October 2012); Move over! The Mercedes SLS AMG Black Series is coming through (November 2012); Merc's SLS AMG Electric Drive sets new 'production' record around the Nürburgring (7 June 2013); Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Final Edition revealed (15 November 2013); Mercedes SLS AMG successor is on its way (16 April 2014); Black Falcon defends its title at the Nürburgring (14 July 2014); 2015 British GT, round 2, Rockingham (May 2015).