Mercedes Tipped To Discontinue The AMG SL65 Next Month

If you’ve been hemming and hawing over the prospect of buying a Mercedes-AMG SL65, you’d better make your mind up soon. Because according to the latest, the model is about to be discontinued.

The flagship of Mercedes’ roadster range, the SL65 packs Affalterbach’s 6.0-liter twin-turbo V12. It produces a huge 604 horsepower (450 kW) and an even more impressive 738 lb-ft (1,000 Nm) of torque).

It’s the same engine that powers the S65 (sedan, coupe, and convertible), the Maybach S650 (sedan and convertible), and the AMG G65 and Maybach G650 Landaulet versions of the previous G-Class. (It also serves as the basis for the engines in the Aston Martin DB11 and Pagani Huayra.)

So far, we’ve yet to see the engine slotted into the new G-Wagen. And we may never again. The word on the street is that only models being sold in Maybach spec will retain the engine. That could include the new G, as well as the forthcoming new GLS. But unless the ultra-luxe division plans a version of the next SL roadster, the SL65 may go the way of the dodo.

We may not have to mourn its departure too much, though, as the next SL is tipped to get a high-output hybrid powertrain like the one we saw in the AMG GT four-door concept. Tipped to carry the 73 designation, the new family of hybrids could kick out a solid 800 horsepower.

In the meantime, MB Passion reports that production of the current Mercedes-AMG SL65 roadster will wrap up at the end of next month. With the SL600 having been discontinued with the previous R230 generation in 2009, that means there’ll soon be one less twelve-cylinder convertible on the market.