Say good-bye to those headlights

Mercedes is preparing their SL sports-roadster once again before it’s going to be replaced by an all-new model in 2011. While it underwent a minor facelift last year, the modifications for this major overhaul seem to be quite radical and will include an all-new front with new bumper, air-intakes, grille and headlights, the latter reminding of those on the CLS four-door coupe.

Some speculate the car snapped here testing in Stuttgart would be a test mule for the entirely new successor of today’s SL, but that’s is very unlikely as test mules normally do not have thinly disguised tails as seen on this prototype. They’re usually either heavily disguised, or not at all. Instead, we reckon the taillights and the bumper of this facelifted model will be slightly re-designed as well, and that is actually the reason for the black tape on the SL’s rear end.

As Mercedes has always kept engines of the SL up to date, we do not expect much to change under the bonnet. Stuttgart will continue to offer the SL 350 (V6, 272 bhp), SL 500 (V8, 388 bhp) and SL 600 (V12, 517 bhp). The 500-bhp SL 55 AMG, however, will be replaced by the more powerful SL 63 AMG returning 525 bhp. The even hotter SL 65 AMG with no less than 612 bhp will remain on offer, too.