German Car Zone

The car isn't a failure. The SLR have been embraced since people first saw the concpet. It as actually sold very well in comparison with other super car.

It would have been a failure if it had sold less than 500 cars but so far it has sold over 1200 cars which is well more than a super car should be selling. The CGT didn't reach it sales goal either. Does that make it a failure? No.

Failure = Flop

Neither the CGT nor the SLR flopped.

Maybach sold 200 a year or so, when they expected 1000.
SLR sold 1200 in total, when expected 3000, that's not even half the goal. You can say whatever you want, that's a faillure. Even MB says they weren't pleased with the result.

The Maybach was a failure, it didn't sell close to what the competition does. The SLR on the other hand has sold comparable number of units like the CGT, Enzo and Zonda so it didn't fail. It has sold just as much as a super car is supposed to.

The SLR is not yet out of production, in fact has at least half its life left, so do not rule the remaining 1,800 units unsellable yet.

I was just about to say that, the SLR is a 7 year car and the goal is 3500 units. What Mercedes and the critics have been saying is that it isn't on track to see 3500 units or that it has been selling slowly so far. It has been a flop as far as the magazines go, they've never really loved it, but commercially it has been just so-so, but not an outright failure. The roadster should sell much better than the coupe anyway. I too said that the SLR had been a flop, but when you think about the original goals that really isn't so, yet.

M

The 7-year span might be a problem in and of itself with the SLR. It is way too long a time during which a car of this caliber has to remain appealing and state of the art. The SLR stopped being state-of-the-art, or even MB state-of-the-art, a couple of years after production started. It now has an outdated engine, an outdated transmission, and frankly, power levels aren't any longer the impressive heights they used to be. The mighty Enzo, a car with far more deserved state-of-the-art credentials stopped being the "it" Ferrari in terms of technology and speed at the very advent of the 599. Yet, when the last Enzo rolled, it went out with the bang of being the Ferrari, indeed the car, to beat.

They better not commit the same product and marketing strategy with the upcoming supercar(s), or they are in for a repeat of the tepid results. The "Gullwing" projects seems exciting enough and could be a "Veyron" to MB as the actual veyron is to VW's 'wagens and Audis. As far as the SLC--if indeed, this SLC is not simply the "Gullwing" known by another name--it could battle the Modenas and the Gallardos of the world.

Gullwing should make do with no less than 1,000 hp, and have a chasis and equipment, and styling to go with it. If they build it, people will return...

Preview: Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing successor
Mercedes-Benz and its performance divisions AMG and HWA are working on a host of new sports cars with a number of prototypes already spotted testing at both the Nurburgring and America’s Death Valley. Yesterday, spy images of a new Black Series version of the facelifted SL surfaced and last month images of another prototype dubbed the SLC turned up. We now have new renderings of a third Mercedes sports car said to be in development, a gull-winged coupe based on a shortened SL platform described as a spiritual successor to the original 300 SL.

Rumored to hit the streets in 2010, the new car will feature an upgraded version of AMG’s hand-built 6.2L V8 with power levels in excess of 600hp. The car is being developed internally by Mercedes and AMG engineers and production numbers are expected to range between 3,000 and 5,000 units per year.
Although the gull-wing doors draw obvious styling cues from the original model from the 1950s, the new car won’t be shamelessly retro. As these renderings suggest, the car will feature a sleek, aerodynamic body, circular headlights and SLR-style side vents.

^^OMG that is such a bad Alfa Romeo chop that it's not even funny.

^
lOl, I agree. On top of that I thought MB was through with the round headlight design. This ps is retro overkill! I like some elements about it, but it seems the evolution factor is missing.

I love everything about that chop. It's perfection.